The Hidden
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: [Sequel to The Experiment] OC So Charlie's finally out of 'The Modern Castle' but has he truly escaped from him? And who was that girl who helped to free him? [Oh, I give up. It sucks. Don't read unless you want to end up blind] [Discontinued]
1. Freedom

Authors note: This is my second Beyblade fic but it's part of s sequel so read the first one before you read this one! If you don't you'll have no idea what's happening. Mainly because I'm starting this practically at the point where I left off in The Experiment. Okay, it's about three minutes later. And yes, Charlie still has his accent. Anyway, this is for the people who reviewed my last chapter of The Experiment.

Wingcanine: I'm writing a sequel! Here it is! About your fic, I hope you can get your chapters up fast then!

Dudems: I've finished writing the first chapter of the sequel! (Obviously) I was only waiting for you to review which took aaaages! Test? What test? Thanks for reminding me that I have a test on Monday! Hopefully (not) my Spanish teacher will forget to take me up again like he did with my Spanish speaking test.

Since that's done, look on further for the fic!

**Warning: Phonetic Scottish, bad gammar, lots of typos and in-text author notes in the following chapters**

* * *

_'Trilox, I can't believe it. We're free.' _That word, most people take talking for granted, but when something like not being able to express your own opinion gets taken away . . .you don't realize how important something is to you or how you actually feel about something until it is taken away. When or if you get it back, it's the best feeling the world.

**_'I know how you feel. We've stayed in there for far too long.'_**

_'Trilox . . . how long were you in there for? I mean, before Ah came along?'_

**_'I honestly do not know. The days just melted into each other and since I don't _****really _need sleep, I lost count of the days.'_**

Suddenly the girl whom I was following came to a full stop. Which ended up with me swerving around her and completely passing her, if I didn't, we'd have ended up in a heap.

"Where are they?" I heard her mutter underneath her breath.

"Where are who?"

"Hmm?"

_'Great, about five minutes after I've met her she's already forgotten I'm here.'_

" 'They' are my gang. Well, they aren't mine, I'm not the leader, I'm just part of the gang." She finished proudly. "And they were _supposed _to be here waiting for me when I got back!" she motioned with her hand to the surrounding area.

"Oh." Well what else could I say?

"They must be at the hideout. Do you wanna walk this time? That way we can talk."

"Um, okay."

"Right, first off, what's your name and what were you doing in a place like that?"

"My name's Charlie and um, Ah don't really know what Ah was doin' there." I finished weakly. _'She mustn' know bout my past, if she does…who knows what she'll think, Ah guess Ah would know but…'_ "Wha's your name?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"What's with that fake accent?"

"It's not fake. Ah'm normally talk like this, Ah only talked wi''ou' ma accent because you would be able to understand me be''er. So wha's your name?"

"It's Roxanne," She suddenly blanched "Don't call me that though. My nickname's Roxy but my street name is Talon."

We walked in silence for about ten minutes; I was looking at the stars through the leaves of the trees on either side of the track. Roxy, I had know idea what she was doing, she was walking and I was following, simple as that. I had an urge to listen in to what she was thinking. But I decided against it. No one likes to let their private thoughts known, unless they themselves tell.

"You didn't answer my question/ what were you doing there? And 'I don't know' isn't an answer. And also, you did you want me out so bad but you were so hesitant to go but to then suddenly change your mind?"

"I . . .I can't say. Could you please respect my privacy and not ask me again? I'll tell you in my own time, just don't force me to tell you right now." I didn't mean to, but it sounded cold instead of pleading.

She shook her head. "Man, you are one weird dude. You won't tell me what happened in that place, your past, you know you're being all mysterious? There's only two things that I know about you. One is your name and the other is that you beyblade." She tilted her head up so that she was looking up to me, "I don't think this is too personal a question. How old are you?"

How old _am_ I? My earliest memory was when I was twelve (I think) and that's when I was in that building. I have no idea how long I stayed there, but it was something like two years. That mean I would be fourteen years old or I could be fifteen years old, depending on when my birthday was. Which I also don't know.

"Fourteen. You?"

She gave me an incredulous look. "Fourteen? You look more like sixteen to me. But then again, I don't look fourteen wither. And before you start, don't even_ give _me that look. I'm not lying okay?" she was looking at me like she was daring me to look at her wrong.

"Wha'? Ah'm no' goin' to say anythin'."

"Good. Because some people are just predictable with their thoughts."

When she said that, I took an involuntary gasp.

"What?" I guess she was seeing the look of shock on my face, plus the fact I had stopped dead in my tracks.

"Déja vu." Was all I said.

Sigh "I'm not really getting anywhere with you am I?"

"I don't really talk to people. No' used to it."

We walked in silence for a further ten minutes. By now we had gone past the park area and into a more urban area.

"We're here." The sound of her voice brought me out of my silent sight seeing. The building we were standing in front of was about the size of a normal two-storey house. It wasn't joined to any other buildings and the street was strangely devoid of people, but that might have been because there was only one other house in the street. The house emitted an eerie glow from within from its lights.

Talon had already run inside while I on the other hand walked in. there was some sort of commotion before I pushed the door open. When I walked through though, the place suddenly went stony silent. Including Talon, there was four people in the room. The ground floor itself was one big room. The floor was littered with, well, litter. There wasn't enough to completely cover the floor but there was enough to see that there was little around the place. On the left side of the room was a staircase leading up to another room.

Talon was in the middle of the room with the other three people crowded around her. In the whole group were two girls and two boys, Talon being easily the smallest and a guy who did look like he was sixteen (he was the same height as me) being the tallest. And that guy was furiously staring at me.

"And this-" Talon started.

"Is your boyfriend." That guy interrupted blandly.

"Is-no!" Talon started to blush. "He's what I brought for my dare and where _were_ you guys?! You were supposed to wait for me!"

"You took so long in there that we thought you had gotten caught or something. How knows what kind of stuff happens in a haunted place like that?" This was said by the other girl. She had blazing red hair that could be compared to fire; wild and bright. Her hair was basically a massive crimson fuzz ball. She was taller than Talon, but then, that wasn't really an achievement. She came up to about my shoulders.

"Oh yeah! Shadow's got a 'blade, sooooo how about you guys get um, acquainted over a beybattle?" Talon said hesitantly said.

'Shadow? Who's-' 

_'Trilox, Ah think she's talkin' bou' me._'

**_'Shadow? But you introduced yourself as Charlie though.'_**

_'Hmm, Ah think Talon made Shadow up as my street name.'_

'But why Shadow though?' 

_'Um, somethin' to do with me not tellin' her my past? Idunno.'_

'Ah guess it sounds right. Who would want to talk about our past anyway?' 

'What was it? With light you must have shadows, with shadows you must have light. Don' ask. It's just somethin' that merely came to mind.'

That's when I noticed that the last boy was staring at me while the others were having a private conversation. There was something in his eyes, they were a little wider than before, the traditional look of slight fear but trying not to show it and for some reason he was looking directly in my eyes. This boy came up to about my shoulders and longish brown hair. I don't know why, but I started to stare back at him. When he saw what I was doing he didn't turn away but his eyes widened ever so slightly more but enough to be noticeable. We continued to stare at each other for a further five minutes before the others had finished their conversation.

"What?! That's not fair!"

"That's the conditions, Zero, why are you staring at him?"

The boy called Zero blinked and turned away.

The taller boy pulled out a black beyblade. "This is what we're going to do, we're goin' to have a beybattle, best out of three wins. If I win," When he said that a cocky grin snaked onto his face. "You leave, if you somehow win, you get to stay with us, capeesh?"

I looked at Talon who shook her head. Deciding quickly, I listened into her thoughts.

_-ing to get trashed. He _always_ does this! I've got to warn Charlie but-_

with a small sigh I slowly pulled out Trilox. In the somewhat two years that I had been there, after that one modification, it was exactly the same. "Since you've accepted, the dish is upstairs."

Up the stairs was one big room as well but in one corner there was a medium sized beydish. We both walked up to opposite sides of the dish and held out our respective beyblades and launchers.

"Okay, this will be a series of three matches, no time limit. Three. . . two. . . one…Let it riiiip!"

And that's me finito for the moment. So how about you guys reviewing then?

Charlie: Well, that ended in a good way, for once!

DID: yeah, yeah, yeah. You're secretly happy that there was a sequel.

Charlie: Oh yeah? What gives you that idea? Do you think I like being tortured?!

DID: If there wasn't a sequel you would have been slowly forgotten and then I would probably have wiped the floppy so then you would be no more!

Charlie: Sheesh. There's no need to get all melodramatic!

DID: So what do you reviewers think that the leaders street name should be? Charlie: Man, I am sooooo bored! And that Talon/Roxanne person is a _bit _of a ditz, isn't she?

DID: um, okay. She sort of ended up like that by accident. Hopefully she'll show a different bit in her character a little later on. Oh yeah, I won't begin the next chapter until I get….THREE! reviews!

Charlie: You DO know that it isn't exactly a lot of reviews?

DID: Yup. I don't like demanding too much. So please review! Also, I won't be able to update as fast as I could before coz of my tests!


	2. Beybattle!

"Let it riiip!"

We yanked at our ripcords and watched our beyblades as they crashed into the beydish. My blade immediately took the defensive position while the black one was spinning around near the rim of the dish. Suddenly the other blade rushed forward.

The order of "Attack now!" rang in my ears a split second after. 

Trilox allowed it to come closer until it was about a centimetre away and then dodged away. 

"What?! No way!" I felt my opponents eyes stare at me while I kept my eyes downcast and on the battle below. "Did you whisper your command or somethin'?" He practically growled, "Your beyblade doesn't do anything unless you tell it to."

_'No' unless you can tell 'it' wha' to do with your thoughts, ay Trilox?'_

**_'Yup. Ah guess we're goin' to find out this guys strengths huh?'_**

Before I could reply, the black blade slammed into Trilox sending uh . . .him spinning out of the beydish.

"Pff. You're pretty fast but if you don't attack you'll never win. If that's your regular strategy then the overall battle is mine." The whirring stopped as the blade left the dish and straight into his hand. "So you'd better stop right now before your blade gets destroyed." 

I stooped down to pick up Trilox who had conveniently right between my feet. 

'I didn't expect him to attack so quickly. He's stronger than what I originally thought but he should still go down anyway.' 

'Okay, cool.'

We took our positions and the shout of "3 . . .2 . . .1! Let it riiip!" echoed through otherwise silent room. Two hollow clangs later, both blades raced towards each other to then crash in the middle. There was a small flash as both blades created sparks on contact. Their strengths were pretty much the same. At one point, one blade gave a little ground which made the other blade go off balance, when the other blade rushed back, it ended up with both blades whirling around each other in a tight circle. 

'Trilox, back up a bi'. Make 'im think he's gainin' ground. Only 'till 'bout halfway to the rim though.'

'Okay. I get what you want to happen. I'm getting' dizzy anyway.'

 Trilox suddenly backed out of their 'dance'. Again, the black blade slammed into him and sent him a few centimetres back. What I didn't expect to see was that Trilox had started to wobble. Unconsciously, I gripped my ripcord tighter. 

"No!" I just barely heard the half whisper, half sob over the spinning of the two blades. As I was halfway turned around to see what was wrong I heard the shout of " Attack!" Too late to turn back around completely and too late to talk to Trilox I could only watch as the black blade rushed forwards the silver (still wobbling) blade. 

As the black blade was about to smash into Trilox, Trilox abruptly dodged to his right. While the black blade shot past another shout was made by my opponent. 

"Turn around!"

Unfortunately, after he had finished his command, his blade had a burst of speed . . .out of the dish. There was a light click as it hit the bare floor. Trilox on the other hand, was running rings inside the dish looking like he had never been wobbling seconds before. 

There was silence as the others comprehended what had happened. Well, it was silent for them. For me and Trilox, we were talking, not that they could hear us anyway.

_'You had me worried there!'_

**_'Ah was just goin' with the plan. That's what you wanted me to do wasn't it?'_**

'Yeah, bu' Ah didn't expect you to start wobbin' and Ah didn't expect that I would believe you! Are you gonna come to my hand so we can start the last match already? Ah think this one'll be close.'

**_'Ah'm comin'! It may be close, but he doesn't have a bit beast does he?'_**

_'Ah guess.' _I started to load Trilox into the launcher for the third time. _'But should Ah really use you against a blade without a bit beast? You know how Ah feel 'bout doin' that.'_

'Well it-' 

"3 . . .2 . . .1! Let it riiip!"

Instinctively, I pulled on the ripcord. I knew I would be able to talk to Trilox anyway, whether he was battling or not.

Not surprisingly, the blade didn't decide to attack after what happened before. My opponent now knew two things, my blade was extremely fast and I tricked people to think one thing when it wasn't. He was also probably a bit spooked by me because I hadn't said uttered a single sound from the start of the first match. Come to think of it, I haven't said anything out loud since I've entered this building. There is something else he doesn't know though, apart from that I have a bit beast.

I could cheat.

I couldn't rig the match as it had already started and I couldn't tamper with his blade since it was already in the dish. I could still cheat though. That's the whole point of my existence isn't it? That's the reason I lost my memories, that's the reason I spent two years in _that _place with no-one to talk to apart from a bit beast. And that's the reason why I'm standing here by this beydish battling this stranger, who I still don't know the name of.

What I'm talking about it my psychic powers. 

That was why I got psychic powers. So I could know a persons tactics as they thought of them so then I could change mine in accordance with theirs. It's a perfect plan, give a kid psychic powers so he or she can cheat to win every single battle they're in. One snag though, what happens id that kid doesn't _want_ to cheat? I.e. Me. I don't mind the powers, in fact, I can't remember what it was like before I had my powers (could have something to do with the drugs though). Sure, I could beat every single person and be the best blader in the world, but because I had cheated. Because I had made someone tell me their plans without them realizing. It just doesn't feel right. 

Both our blades stayed relatively in the same place that they landed on. Not used of waiting fifteen seconds before charging headlong into something, my opponent's normal nature of using brute force got the better of him. 

"Attack it!" he shouted. " . . .But don't go too fast" he added as an afterthought. 

'Triplex, pretend your going' to do the same thing-' 

**_'But to then stay in the same place.'_**

I felt a small smile spread across my face as I felt the friendship between the two of us. I saw the black blade bash onto Triplex, who then banked left. I was surprised when I observed the black blade suddenly move to the left to intercept Triplex. If Triplex had actually been there in the first place that is. Yet again my opponents blade shot past. As Triplex was about to ram into the black blade I was surprised for a second time when the other blade ran back into Triplex with enough force to shove him back into the middle of the boyish. For real this time, no tricks. 

"Huh," I looked up quickly to the boy opposite me. "You don't look like it but you're a pretty good bladder. No one's given me this much of a challenge in a _very _long time. Your blade's getting tired though, isn't it? You're good, but not good enough to beat me! Attack!"

When the black blade crashed into the silver blades strength couldn't match with the raw power of the black blade. Gritting my teeth, I knew that there was only one way to beat him and I wasn't too happy with the choice.

"TRILOX!!!" 

Startled, my opponent took a step backwards. Probably because this was the first word I had er. . .said, but it could have also been because I had shouted it at the top of my lungs. What happened next made everyone (apart from me) gasp.

Suddenly Trilox's blade lit up with a silver glow that rivalled the light of the hanging lights attached to the ceiling. When it died down, hovering five centimetres above the silver beyblade, was Trilox. 

I had a feeling that the people around me were shocked. You didn't have to be a mind reader to know that. Their first shock would have been that I actually had a bit beast and then they would have had another one when they saw _what _Trilox was. To them, it would have been a blast from the past, you could say. 

You see, Trilox is a velociraptor. A three headed velociraptor to be more precise. Donned on each head was a sort of mask that covered the top half of their skulls, it went from the tip of their snout, over their eyes to the back of the skull. The left most mask was a lush green, the middle mask was a deep ocean blue and the mask on the far right was a deep almost blood red. On top of each skull were three spikes. The spikes produced from the centre of the head/mask to then curve forward so it ran the same course as snout but not as long as it. The centre spike was thicker than the ones beside it. The spikes on the outside also curved in slightly, so that the sharp tips pointed to the centre and they weren't as long as the centre one either. Running down each neck, down the spine, to the tip of his tail and also down each limb to either the wrist or ankle were curved, flat spikes that was a dull orange. The rest of Trilox was a type of gold colour, which was more of an orangey yellow then actual gold. 

"Maul attack!" I yelled. As the command left my lips, Trilox rushed towards the black blade and before he reached it he extended his three heads to chomp on the blade before him. Five seconds later a black blade zipped out and when it landed it turned over and started smoking from the heat of the battle.

Trilox returned to his bit piece and moved into my outstretched hand. When he landed there I noticed immediately that the blade was warm. I sighed and looked up to the people behind me. They were staring at me with a mix of respect and a little fear. Zero was staring at my eyes again, Talon and the other girl soon followed suit. Zero had exactly the same look as he did before and the other girl and Talon shortly mirrored his look of fear. Worried, but trying not to show it, I turned around again to look at my opponent who I (and Trilox) was just battling. 

"I guess that means you're staying here then." He said. Then he, like the others started to stare at my eyes.

'Why are they doin' that? What are they seeing? Ah can't take this.' Utterly confused, I thrust Trilox into a pocket and ran down the stairs and out of the building. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     

Should I have left it there? Ah well. So what do you guys think? Of the beybattle and Trilox. Tell me if it was bad or whatever 'coz I wasn't too sure about the whole thing. So now you know why he was 'given' his powers. I didn't think that the whole battle would take up a whole chapter. Now to my reviewers:

Dudems: For once you reviewed early! It's amazing!!! Thanks for the vanilla coke, I'm still drinking it you gave me so much!

Wingcanine: Thanks for saying that! Um, I don't really want you to hate Talon. But tell me if you want me to tweak her a bit so that she isn't such a ditz.  

So tell me what you think and please review!!

Dark Ice Dragon


	3. Am I alone?

I heard the repetitive footfalls of my feet as I ran through the unfamiliar streets and the rasping of my breath created the illusion of being alone, as I could hear nothing else. Nothing else apart from Trilox trying to get me to talk to him that is.

'Charlie, you've got to talk to me! What's wrong? We won the match didn't we? So why are you running away from them?'

I didn't reply. I wanted to tell him but something was holding me back. If I could, I would have blocked Trilox's thoughts from entering my mind, however, that was impossible. So I was forced to listen as Trilox became more and more desperate to find out why I was running and why I suddenly didn't want to talk to him, neither of which I could answer. 

**'Charlie, please! Please talk to me! What's wrong?! Say something! Charlie… please don't be like this again… please.'** The last sentence was spoken as soft as a whisper. If he could, I'm sure there would have been tears running down his face(s).

I couldn't take it anymore. I'd been running for too long and my body just wasn't used to it. In the time I was _that building_ I had developed more upper body strength from all the launches I had pulled. On the other hand, stamina and endurance weren't really my thing, I much preferred walking from place to places. Also, what Trilox had said brought me back to my senses. I felt a wrenching in my heart as Trilox sounded so dejected. Why couldn't I tell him? Why could I talk to him?

I stumbled into a dark alleyway where I leaned on a wall for support. All I could hear was myself taking in gulps of air as I tried to get my body back to what was normal for me. My body shuddered with each drawn breath and I closed my eyes as I felt the oxygen reaching my aching muscles. Sighing, I opened them again and I tilted my head up until I was able to look at the dark sky. The stars went on and off like white Christmas trees lights as they played hide and seek with clouds the same colour as its backdrop.  As I was staring into space I felt a water droplet hit me squarely on the nose. Great, just what I needed. Rain. I slid down the wall so that my back was still on the wall and just below my chin was my knees with my arms hugging them. 

The soft pattering of rain grew in volume as the rain steadily became heavier. All the while I continued to stare up at the clouds as the rain splashed onto my face. Trilox had been silent for some time now. I guess it was because I still hadn't responded that he stopped trying to get me to talk. My hair was plastered onto my scalp already as the downpour drummed onto my skull. Over the noise of someone running down the street and the half-shouts of "Shadow? Where are you?" as they faded in and out of my hearing. 

_'Why did Ah leave?' _my mind brooded. _'How could Ah have thought Ah would have been able to fit in? Ah'll never be able to fit in. Ah'm too strange to fit in with other kids and with adults, they treat me like Ah'm somethin' to be tolerated, as long as Ah'm useful. Ah don' have feelin's (apparently) so Ah don' feel pain. Ah'd be shunned by the kids and Ah'd be tested over and over again by the adults. What would have happened when Ah couldn't improve anymore?'_ I wondered._' Would they have gotten rid of me or could they have given me a new drug to see what they would do?'_ My brow creased and I frowned. _' But if they did that, there could have been a bad reaction between the two 'medications' and what would that have done? Make me even better? Or kill me instead? Ah guess it wouldn't have mattered, they would just go and find another kid off the streets or they could get my blood and find out if they could have done something to the second drug so it was more compatible with each other._

While I was thinking, I didn't notice the splashes of someone running were coming closer to the spot were I was. I continued my thoughts of whom I should go to or if I should stay alone as I stared at the brick wall in front of me. My jumper moved slightly as someone ran past the alleyway stirring a gust of wind as s/he did. I was now thoroughly soaked. From my trainers to my hair, everything had water in it. And yet, I still gazed blankly in front of me and my body didn't do a thing to try and get warmer; like shivering. My blank eyes saw the person who had run past retrace their steps but the message didn't connect with my brain. Either that or it couldn't reach my brain because of my thoughts that never seemed to stop. My eyes saw the person stop as she glanced into the alleyway and start when s/he saw me. My ears picked up the vibrations of his/her voice as she said something but I couldn't comprehend what s/he was saying. I was still so engrossed in thinking that I had seen and heard him/her but my brain said that I hadn't. 

Suddenly I was jerked away from my musings as s/he shook my shoulder to grab my attention. 

"What?!" My eyes finally focused on the person in front of me.

"Finally! When you didn't answer I started to get worried." Talon, what does _she_ want? Why did she run after me? She started to walk away but when she saw I wasn't following her she stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Aren't you coming?"

I shook my head. _'Why would they want me back? They think Ah'm weird and why they were staring at my eyes before?'_

"But why not?"

"Why were you guys starin' at me?" I mumbled, countering her question. 

She winced at my comment. "Oh… that. Well, it was 'coz of your eyes." Seeing my blank look she added more to it. "Your eyes, they were like, um, they had purple bits in it and well, we've never seen with purple eyes before. So sorry if we offended you or something by staring." She apologized.      

_'Purple bits? Waitaminute. _

**** Flashback ****

_I leaned up closer to the mirror to see if I could see what I thought I had seen. I stared at my glacier blue eyes and just when I thought it was a trick of light, it was there again. That flash, that sudden change in tint. _

_What I had seen was a flash of purple float into my eyes._

****End Flashback****

_'So that's why they were starin' at me.' _I hear a rustle of clothing as Talon shifted uncomfortably. When I didn't say anything in return the silence between us grew and it seemed to me like my hearing had sharpened as the level of noise of the rain increased. We then heard the distant sound of someone running in the rain. 

"Talon! There you are! When you ran out after Shadow, Geode told me to go after you. Of course you had a heard start and you're our second fastest runner in the gang so it took me a while to catch up with you. What are you starin' at?" The other person blabbered. 

_'Geode? Could that be the guy I ba''led?'_

"Hi Blaze," Talon replied distractedly. "I'm starin' at Shadow."

I flicked my eyes over to the other person and saw it was other girl with the red hair. Big wonder she was called Blaze. I saw her look in my general direction but her eyes over looked me.

"Shadow. Please, don't be like this. Come back with us." I gave her a sharp look. How does she always do that? Whenever she says something it's got something to do with my past or somebody else who I know has said that before. Unfortunately for me, she saw that look. "What? What was that for?"

With a sigh I heaved myself onto my feet because I had a feeling that she wouldn't go away without me whatever I said or didn't say. 

"What the?! Where did u come from?" it looked like Blaze was surprised by my "sudden appearance. I suppose it was because I was sitting in the shadows (like my name would imply) but when I stood up I was lit up by the streetlights. She was also looking in a different direction when I stood up so to her, it looked like I had just popped out of nowhere when she looked back. "I didn't even see you before, where were you hiding?" that's when Blaze started to stare at my eyes again. When I looked at Talon she was staring at them as well. I looked away from both of them and closed my eyes. That told Blaze she was staring at me yet again. "Oh! Sorry!" I heard Blaze say. "It was just that your eyes had changed colour again." opening my eyes slowly I looked at the two girls in front of me. They looked guiltily back at me. Now I was totally confused. Changed colour? To what now? Red? Black? And why did they look so guilty? Because they were caught staring? That can't be it. Ugh. Too many questions.

"What colour?"

"What?"

"What colour are my eyes?"

"Really light blue."

"Before you ask, I don't know why my eyes were purple. The colour that my eyes are right now, that's the colour of my eyes normally." Some people are so easy to read when they're about to ask a question.

"Blaze, before you ask how he knew, could we go back now? I don't know about you guys but I'm soaked."

It was funny how Blaze's mouth opened and closed like a fish when she was about to ask a question but to then be interrupted.

She gave an irritated sigh but she nodded and said, "If you're soaked, what do you think Shadow's goin' to be like?"

When she said that, it caused me to think of my own predicament. I had been sitting on the cold ground for who knows how long and when it start to rain I didn't head for shelter. I just let the rain fall on me. I touched my arm as I rolled up my jumper and found that my skin felt cold, clammy and goose-bumps had risen.

We walked out of the alleyway and headed back to the warehouse. Talon and Blaze were walking in front, talking, leading the way in a pair with me walking a little way behind them and following. Every few minutes Blaze would look over her shoulder and look at me with a confused frown and when she saw me she seemed surprised. What was she expecting? Me to run away again? When she did that about ten times I was starting to get annoyed so when she did it again I asked her,

"What are ya doin'?"

"Huh? Well, it's just, um," while Blaze was trying to think of something to say she stopped which Talon soon realized she was the only one who was waking and turned back to find out why we had stopped. "You didn't make any noise when you were walkin', so I thought you had stopped walkin' or somethin'."

I didn't make any noise? I guess that would have been because of all the time I had been told 2 walk quietly when I was with Doctor. I shook my head, mentally clearing my thoughts of him and everything to do with him. "Don't worry. I won't run away again."

Both of them nodded and started to walk away again. Glancing up at the sky once more I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye. A piece of material perhaps? Turning around I saw that there was nothing there. Running my fingers through my wet hair, more to get it out of my eyes then anything else, I turned back to walk after the retreating backs of the two girls.

* * *

"There you guys are!" I saw Geode walk quickly towards us with Zero walking after him. Geode looked at me, more specifically, my eyes. When he saw that they were more of a normal colour he gave a small nod. "Why did you run away?" 

 I looked down from his questioning gaze. "Ah don' know. Ah think it was 'coz you guys kept on staring at meh." 

When I said that Geode looked at Talon. "Talon, you never said he was Scottish."  

"Scottish? That's where his accents from?"

_'Scottish? Scotland? Is that where Ah'm from?'_

'Charlie? Do you want to talk now?' Trilox seemed more tentative than usual but who can blame him? I don't normally ignore him. Come to think of it, that was the first time I had don't that to him. 

_'Yeah. Sorry about before. I don't know why I didn't try to talk about it.'_ even though Trilox couldn't see my face I had an apologetic smile on. _'Ah'm just glad that Ah know where Ah come from now.'_

"Uh, Shadow?" someone said hesitantly, snapping me out of my private conversation with Trilox.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you staring at me with that goofy smile and far away look in your eye?"

"Ya what?!" I blinked and I clearly was staring at someone with a goofy smile and a far away look in my eye. The thing was, it wasn't a girl. 

It was Geode. 

I felt my cheeks redden in my embarrassment. "Ah was… Ah was thinkin' bout somethin'. I saw Geode frown and he was looking at my eyes.

"Your eyes. They've changed a bit again." something must have happened because he did a half shrug and looked away again. "Never mind. Anyway, you guys are soakin'. There's some stuff upstairs to dry yourselves with."

"Thanks Geode." Talon and Blaze ran up the stairs, two at a time. I on the other hand walked up them. Although I didn't show it, I was happy that I was taken in by these people and it looked like I was going to be looked after them as well.

*~*~Somewhere else in the city*~*~

 ??? P.o.V

I picked up the mobile from the breast pocket of my jacket and dialled the number I had committed to memory. I listened to the tones of the mobile as I waited for it to finish dialling up and start ringing on the other side. It only ringed once before it was picked up.

"Yes?"

"I've found him." I heard my employer give a humourless laugh.

"They said you were good. I just didn't think you were _that_ good."

"Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"No. Nothing else. Just track him."

"Sir, there's something else. There were some other children with him."

"Hmm, they could have already been told. Get rid of them or in the very least make sure that they won't tell anyone of the boy."

I frowned slightly. "Yessir." Sure that I would do his bidding, he switched off this phone. Adults were one thing, they had already lived out most of their lives. Children though, they had only begun theirs. '_He said that they were to not talk about it so I don't have to kill them. What does he want with the boy though? He was paying so much for such a minor job, how could I refuse? Well Charlie, I guess I'm going to find out why this person holds you in such high regard that he would be willing for other people, kids, to be killed to keep you a secret? What could those children have been told? Hmm, if he's that willing for kids to die, what will he do to me when I've finished this?'  _I shook my head, freeing some water droplets that had gotten past my hood. Sighing, I turned around and started to walk away thinking of the only rule I had.

Don't ask questions.  

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Yey! I've finally finished! Since it took me so long it's uber long for my reviewers. Speaking of which, Thank you;****

**Dudems: **Lol. Hmm, the way you phrased it looked like you had only read this and The Experiment for the first time. The Dude? Lol. ^__^ of course I reviewed your story! I don't get many reviewers in my fics so I read theirs. 

**Wingcanine:** I'm glad that you thought I used an original idea. Well, I sort of tweaked Talon a bit.

Did this chapter answer some of your questions? Did it raise a few more? Oh, I was hinting it a bit in this chapter but give me you views. What do you think triggers Shadow's eyes? The first time he sees he's got purplish eyes doesn't count. That was just his body compensating the effects of the drugs. So please review! What do you think of this new person? Please review what you think!  

Dark Ice Dragon


	4. Dreams

I walked down the stairs still dripping a bit from my clothes since I didn't have a change of clothes obviously. I'd taken off my trainers because they squelched whenever I walked and you can't really wring a trainer dry. 

Talon and Blaze had finished before me so they were already downstairs talking to Geode. Zero was with them but he wasn't participating with the conversation. Walking up to them I noted that they were talking about the beybattle between Geode and me. 

"You should have seen your face!" Talon started laughing, "It was hilarious!" she continued. 

"C'mon you guys! It couldn't have been _that _funny!"

"Yeah well, it's good to see you knocked off your high horse for once." Blaze replied with a small smile looking straight at him. That was when her eyes travelled up to where I was, standing behind him. When she saw it was me, she gave a little jump. Talon saw where she was staring and when she looked up and noticed me standing there, she gave a little start. 

"What's up?" concerned about what was freaking them out Geode looked over his shoulder and nearly fell over from his sitting position. "What the? Where the heck did you come from?" when I didn't answer he muttered, "Well his name definitely fits him."

Just then, Zero yawned which made everyone realize how tired he or she actually was. Everyone started to yawn along with him and began to rub their eyes suddenly feeling their energy levels drop from some unknown reason as they realized how late it actually was. 

"Since we're all agreed, let's go upstairs to get some sleep then." Geode said, half sarcastic and half sleepy. 

We followed Geode up the stairs to collapse onto the mattresses and fall asleep straight away. 

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Doctor reached into his pocket and when he pulled his hand out again it came up with some sort of black remote control. He then pushed the only button on the shiny surface.

_Suddenly I was on my knees going out of my mind with pain. My chest contracted with the torture, making it harder to breathe. My back arched and my hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms. My eyes swam as the sweat dripped into my eyes. Grey spots appeared in front of me since the lack of oxygen started to affect my brain. I opened my mouth to try and get as much oxygen into my body. But it was a waste of my energy because when I tried to take a breath my eyes widened in agony as my world exploded when I struggled to widen my constricted chest. And then…_

_I slowly loaded my 'blade with as much force I could muster. There was a hollow clang and sparks shot up as it hit the dish. The change from my earlier launch became apparent straight away. It was faster, more stable and somehow easier to control. 'So they fiddled with my 'blade as well. Is there anythin' o' mine which they haven' changed? I then noticed that the blade was in a defensive position in the middle of the beydish. 'That's weird, it's like i' goes wi'' wha' Ah'm feelin'.' On a whim, I thought that I wanted it to go faster. The second I finished my thought…_

_We ended up in a large room with only Doctor and only one other person in it. She had a black suit on and black hair tied up in a ponytail. _

_Adam abruptly turned around and left the room and I had an urge to follow him but I was being motioned towards the chair by Doctor to sit in the chair opposite the desk the lady was sitting at. When I sat down and instantly looked at my hands. _

_"Doctor has informed me about your development. Would you care to show me?" her voice was clipped and the way she said it belied that she was actually interested. _

_"On you?"_

_"Well who else can you see?" _

_My eyes flickered to Doctor. "Yes, on me." She said, sighing. _

Unsure on what to do I started to stare at her forehead. Then as if I had done this before in a past life and suddenly remembered how to, I closed my eyes and imagined there was a line of light connecting our foreheads together. In a flash I was…

"There is something here I think you will quite enjoy." Doctor said, answering my which I hadn't asked him. It wasn't because I was shy, it was because usually if I did question anything, I would have had a little "lesson" in asking questions or talking back to my elders. I nodded as I continued to walk behind him. He was taking me in the building where I had never been before.  As far as I could tell, I was on the fourth level on the opposite side of the building from the beydishes. Since there wasn't a map of the whole building I couldn't be too sure. He took me up some stairs and through a door that said clearly on the front of it:  STAFF ONLY. 'Staff only? Ah thought everyone worked here? Ah suppose that's another reason why Ah haven't been in there then. If it's staff only, Ah defiantly shouldn't be there.' When we walked through it was exactly like the rest of the building; immaculately clean with white walls that didn't have a speck of dirt on them, varnished floors. The only difference that I could see straight away was that there was more light in here than the rest of the building since there was a sort of sky light in the corridor. Again, he took me through another door on my right. This room had the wall right in front of me as one large window cut into smaller sections. Inside the room was what looked like a podium, covering the wall behind it was a huge computer and in front of the podium was a small beydish. I looked up to Doctor who nodded. I walked up to the podium and looked at what was resting on the top of it. 

It was a bit piece.

My eyes widened in surprise and shock. They were giving me a bit beast? I turned around to look at Doctor again. He was standing at the doorframe with his arms crossed. When I looked at his eyes, they didn't hold the usual coldness that I was so used to seeing in his unemotional face. What I did see was curiosity to see what I would do. I didn't try to use my power of mind reading because he always seemed to know when I was about to use it on him somehow. 

Turning back around, I slowly picked up the bit piece and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't get any flashes or anything like I had been getting whenever I touched something recently. 

I turned the bit piece over and studied the picture on it. It was a Velociraptor but that was only recognisable by the wickedly curved gold claw it had on its feet. It had three heads that took up most of the picture, the heads had some sort of helmet on and each helmet had a different colour on it. The left most mask was a lush green, the middle mask was a deep ocean blue and the mask on the far right was a deep almost blood red. On top of each skull were three spikes. The centre head was extended with its fangs bared, and it seemed to be staring right at me. Beside the picture, it said Trilox. 

I took my beyblade out of my pocket and placed the bit piece on the top of it. It fitted like my beyblade was made for the bit piece or vice-versa. 

I yanked at the ripcord and a silver light filled the room…

I yanked at the ripcord and a silver light filled the room. Trilox was starting to get anxious and annoyed because of the amount of the times they had told me to launch him. 

**'Why do they keep on tellin' us to do this?'**

'Ah don' know.' I refrained from actually shaking my head. Any sudden movements were seen as rebellious. Especially a shake of my head. That to them meant I wasn't going to do anymore. And that meant swift action against my 'disobedience'. I couldn't really do much apart from launch Trilox since I had electrodes attached onto my body in various places. 'Maybe they want to make sure that their data has pin-point accuracy.'

**'I guess. But I want to get a challenge! All they want me to do is go around in circles.'** As if hearing Trilox's silent dare, suddenly two beyblades were launched into the dish that I was using. I looked up sharply, not to the people who had just launched their beyblades but to the one-way mirror on my left. I narrowed my eyes as I now knew at least one person behind it. The lady in black who I met those long months ago. Whenever she came here, she did something to try and unbalance me, to test Trilox and me to our limits. 

'Well ma'e, you go' your challenge. Le's show 'em we're no pushovers!" Trilox raced towards them at my encouragement and…

I looked at the trees down the road that would have only taken two minutes to reach. It my as well have been two centuries the way Doctor kept a leash on me. He didn't like me going out into the enclosure at the back so what would he be like if I went out by myself out of a controlled environment? A breeze ruffled the leaves of the treetops, tempting and teasing me. 

**'Charlie? What's wrong?' **I didn't say anything and I could feel his unease growing. **'Are you feeling Okay?' **I stayed silent.  **'Charlie? Is this about before?' **I heard someone walk up to me and then walk away again, completely ignoring me. **'If it is, I'm sorry.' **I continued to stare at the outside world, lost in my own. I closed my eyes to lock out what I could not have and I felt a small wetness in the corners of my eyes as I thought of what had happened…

Gravel crunched underfoot as someone walked towards the spot I was standing in mere seconds ago. A wrinkled hand picked up the bracelet and turned it over slowly.

"Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. You shouldn't have done that; you know what will happen when you get back. And you will be coming back. And when you do…I'll make sure you won't leave again. If you tell anyone about this, they will no longer exist in this world." The persons voice echoed around him, holding its deadly promise.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

I bolted upright from my lying position. I took in deep breaths as I tried to steady my rapidly beating heart. I ran my hand through my hair as I tried to collect my thoughts and remember what I had seen in my dream…or nightmare.

"It was only a dream. It was only…a…dream." I muttered. I was looking down at my feet when I noticed my feet when I noticed the floor wasn't white like it normally was. The floor was now floorboards and not covered by carpet. Looking around, I saw I wasn't in the room I was accustomed to. It was like a warehouse. That's when I noticed that I wasn't alone either. When I saw them, I remembered everything that had happened the night before. I looked closely at the sleeping people beside me, I saw that they were still asleep and I hadn't woken them up. 

**'Charlie? What's wrong?"**

'Did Ah wake you up?'

**'No. Ah'm a ligh' sleeper, so don't worry. Did you have a nightmare?'**

'Ah guess it was. But it was half and half. In one bi', it would be pretty nice and then it would suddenly flow into something horrible…like the time I first met you.' I could feel Trilox begin to worry again. 

**'You haven't had nightmares in a long time. The only time you get nightmares is if something…traumatic happens to you.'**

'Trilox, its alright. Ah don' blame you for what happened, you didn't know what would have happened. Anyway, dreams is just the brains way of sorting them what had happened, although, Ah don't remember experience the last bit of my dream.' I thought with a slight frown.

**'Oh? What happened?'**

'Doctor was in it. It was night. And he picked something up in the enclosure. Something…shiny. Something…gold.' I thought, trying to remember what had happened. 'Wait, something gold? Ah remember it was circular.' I realized what I was describing. 'Tha…tha's impossible! There's no way tha' Ah coulda dreamed that! Right!?'

**'It's improbable, not impossible. You could have picked up his thoughts un-subconsciously.' **Trilox reasoned. 

'Ah guess… Ah'm goin' back to sleep. Talk to ya later.'

**'Okay.'**

Talking about it helped, actually, talking to Trilox helps with anything. I laid back and stared at the ceiling before sleep took over me once more.

* * *

Geode's P.o.V

I listened to Shadow's breathing waiting until it became more rhythmic showing he had fallen asleep. I then opened my eyes and sat up from the chair I was sitting on, contemplating what had just happened. 

I had woken up about five or ten minutes before Shadow did and I had heard him thrashing about on the mattress and muttering several things incoherently. A couple of minutes he woke up and practically bolted upright in two seconds after he did. I tilted my head up so I could still watch him through the slits of my eyelids while I looked like I was asleep. I saw him run his hand through his hair as his short breaths became more even. 

"It was only a dream. It was only…a…dream." I heard him mutter. ^What could have happened in that dream? It seems pretty bad.^ Normally I would have comforted whoever had the nightmare but I wasn't too sure what to do with him. He was too new in the group for us to be friends. Heck, he had only joined what? Five hours ago? He could have taken it the wrong way but then, the way he was looking at me this morning…

Shadow looked around in confusion as if he didn't remember where he was. Soon the confusion cleared up and he then started looking at everyone to see if he woken anyone up, I guess. That was when his eyes changed colour again. Well, not completely. It was like his eyes started glowing with a rich purple tint. I remembered the last couple of times his eyes had done that and I think I know why his eyes do that. I think that it happens when there's a rush of emotion, which would explain why his eyes went like that when he was looking at me before and after our beybattle. He doesn't know why or how it happens, that's what Talon said anyway. 

For some reason Shadow frowned suddenly. I guess that was about the dream again. Shadow's face went through dramatic changes from pain, to thinking about something, to surprise, changing to peace. After that, he lied back onto the mattress, stared at the ceiling for a few minutes and then fell asleep again. 

I stared at him and thought of all the emotions that had flashed through his face in those few minutes was more than I had seen in the whole night. I looked over the people of my gang as they slept and since there didn't seem to be anything wrong I moved about to get comfortable, crossed my arms to retain some of my body heat and fell asleep along with everyone else.

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Is it me, or is this going a bit slow? But my chapters are getting longer! Anyway, it was a fast update! So now to my reviewers!

**Dudems;** Lol. It was okay about the 'Dude' thing, I thought it was funny! I'm happy that I made you laugh with the Geode and Shadow bit. You can call him either way, or the shortening of Shadow; Shad. It might come up later in the fic. I'm not telling you what changes his eye colour and you have to decide whether or not Geode is right. 

**Aeria: Lady of Angels; **Thanks for reviewing! ^__^ * Munches on brownie * Mphmm. Mmmm. Nice, anyways, thanks for saying that. 

And saying that, I've now finished with this so please, those of you who are reading this and are NOT reviewing, please review!

Dark Ice Dragon 


	5. Thank you

I opened my eyes and stared at the person who was lying in front of me, facing me. Half of her black hair was fanned out underneath her and the other half of her hair obscured most of her face. The hair that was on her face fluttered back and fourth as she breathed in and out. Her right arm covered her eyes and her left arm was folded underneath her head. _'Talon, thank you. Thank you for taking me from Doctor's grasp. Thank you for showing me that you cared enough to run after me, that people _can_ still care. Thank you for bringing me here, so that I won't be alone again…as long as you can trust me enough and don't find out why I was in there in the first place.'_

I sat up, putting most of my weight on my hands and looked at the other people in the room. I looked to my left, I saw it was Zero who was sleeping on the mattress beside mine. His long (for a boy) brown hair framed his face and he was sort of curled up in a foetal position underneath the covers. Wait a minute, covers? When did Zero get a cov…hey! Who put this cover on top of me? I wondered. 

I pushed the cover off me and stood up. Looking around, I saw everyone was still asleep. No, that wasn't right. There was a spare mattress beside Zero, which I take for assumed must've been Geode's because Blaze was beside Talon. 

Shaking my head and grinning slightly at how innocent they looked, I walked down the stairs to see if I could find Geode and/or something to eat. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw something green flying towards my head in the corner of my eye. Catching it deftly in my right hand, I studied what had been thrown at me.

It was an apple. 

"Nice reflexes." I heard someone comment. Turning around I saw it was Geode. His dirty blonde was lying flat on his head and his chocolate brown eyes were gazing into mine with a mixture of bemusement and mild surprise. I looked down from his gaze as I had been used to doing but I don't think he noticed. "Normally when I do that, the apple has already hit them and are on the ground before they even realize it." I lifted my head up, cocked my head and looked questionably at him. When he saw that, he chuckled. "You don't like talkin' much do you? Yeah, you can eat it." he said, answering my mute question. 

I took a bite with a crunch and licked the succulent juices before it dripped onto the hand that was holding it. While I was savouring the taste of something long forgotten, Geode leaned on one of the walls. 

"Charlie, come here wouldja?" I walked up to him and took another bite of the apple. "Charlie, since you're new the gang I'm going to set out the rules for you Okay?" I nodded. "First things first, I'm the leader here so you follow my orders." Again, I nodded. Sounded reasonable enough. ""Next, when you talk to me, you don't look at me and call me Sir, got that?" there was a seriousness in his voice that I wasn't really paying attention and was about to nod just out of habit. When that sunk in however, I felt something retching in my heart. I nearly chocked on the piece of apple that I was chewing on. It couldn't be happening again! It couldn't! I nearly started to shake physically and I shook my head. I thought I was safe. I thought I wouldn't be ordered what to do again. But I guess I was wrong. I would never be safe. Somebody would always be commanding what happened in my life. 

Always. 

I looked at my toes and whispered, "Yes Sir." In my line of sight, I saw Geode's feet shift as if he was uncomfortable. But that couldn't be right, these kind of people loved bossing people around. 

"Shadow?" Geode sounded uncertain about something. Maybe he didn't think that I would have submitted so quickly. "Shadow, look at me." it was a direct order so I had to follow it but why would he suddenly contradict himself? What I saw when I did surprised me but I quenched my look of surprise because it was probably a test. It was something that Doctor used to do now and then, if I showed any emotion, he would have enjoyed, "teaching" me not to show any. The look on Geode's face was of concern and worry. "Shadow, I was jokin' when I said those things, you _do_ realize that? I didn't mean any of those things!" he was… joking? He didn't mean any of it? I let out the breath I didn't know that I was holding inside of me and felt a smile of relief creep onto my face. "Now, I think the other guys have had enough of a sleep in today. Couldya go upstairs and wake them up? Well, you can try with Talon but I doubt you'll be able to do anything with her." I walked up the stairs to wake the others and thought about how to wake them up politely. 

* * *

Geode's P.o.V

I remembered something that Blaze had told me about Shadow just as I was walking away and decided to test it out. I closed my eyes and listened and when I didn't hear anything I opened them again thinking that he had stopped walking for some reason. When I did though, he wasn't anywhere in sight. She was right, Shadow never made a sound when he moved, even up those stairs which always squeaked whenever someone else trod on them. I could easily see why his nickname was Shadow now, for his size, he was so quiet when he moved you just never knew where he was. He also barely said anything so he could have been right behind you and you wouldn't have noticed anything. What worried me though, was the way Shadow just yielded to me. He didn't argue about it or anything he just… did what he was told. When he hung in his head I thought he was playing around but then he started speaking… there was no playfulness in his voice and he sounded so, I don't know how to describe it, broken, I guess would best suit it. After Shadow lifted his head, what I saw in his eyes was wariness and fear. The only time I had seen someone's eyes hold that kind of fear, was when we had found Zero. What happened to him was that his foster parents had beaten him because he wasn't doing that well in school and then chucked him out of the house when his grades dropped even further. I instantly felt guilty that I had done that little trick. 

Above my head, I heard a sort of commotion. I grinned at that. It was easy to tell what it was about. Shadow must've tried to wake Talon, honestly! She's like a bear in hibernation when she's sleeping and when she's awake she's like a playful puppy! I heard the familiar squeak of someone stepping on the stairs. Looking up, I saw it was Blaze who was walking down first and she looked like she was going to burst out laughing at any given moment. The next person who walked down was Zero and for some reason he had a grin on his face and was shaking his head. It was obviously Shadow who walked down next, he didn't show it in his face but his eyes showed he was pleased about something. I raised my eyebrow to Blaze when she caught me looking at her, waiting for an explanation. 

She shook her head but said, "Wait and see." Wait and see? Wait for what? Talon? But she's-

I heard someone stomp down the stairs this time and walked sullenly beside Blaze. Well this was _definitely _a surprise. "Talon?" I said uncertainly. "I didn't think you'd be up now." When she heard me, she shot Shadow what could only be said as a death glare. Shadow had shifted uncomfortably (but still had that little smile in his eyes) when I said that so he didn't see Talon glaring at him. "Since no-one can normally wake up Talon in the morning, I take that it was _you_ Shadow who woke her up. Can you tell me how you did it?"

"A person's got to breathe." And he didn't say anything else to add to that.

_^A person's got to breathe? I've got another good nickname for ya, Shadow, how about Enigma? You don't say much and when you do…Hmm, a person's got to breathe. Well that's obvious, but what's that go to do with…ooooh!^ _I could now see why everyone was laughing. When I figured it out I gave a little snort. 

"Geode!" Talon said indignantly "It's not funny!" 

"Well now we know how to get you up in the mornings now!" I said with a cheeky grin. 

"Yeah well…let's see how _you _like it when someone does it you!"

I laughed at that. "Like you would be able to wake up before me. You can barely get up two hours after me, so what makes you think you can wake up before me?" I said calmly. 

"Um…. well. Uh." She flustered. 

In the corner of my eye I saw Zero glance up to Shadow and when Shadow looked back his eyes were purple again. _^That's it. That proves it. He is soooo gay. ^ _Zero took a half step back, Shadow blinked and the glow disappeared. Pushing this to the back of my mind, I tuned back into what was Talon saying and what she was going to do to me when/if she caught me asleep.

* * *

Charlie's/Shadow's P.o.V

I had just finished talking to Trilox about how he thought Talon was so troublesome (as in trying to wake her up) when I caught Zero looking at me. As soon as I stared back he took a half step back with the same look I had seen on his face when I first "met" him when he was staring at me whilst the others were deciding what to do with me. After (for some reason I felt like it) I blinked, he looked relieved and seemed more relaxed, as he always seemed to have a hint of fear in his eyes. I figured it must have meant my eyes had gone back to normal. But what was normal for me? It might have had something to do with my eyes suddenly changing colour but his eyes reminded me of something. I then recognized where I had seen that look before. I had seen it in my own face. The trace of fear showed that you were always afraid of something, I knew what I was afraid of, and that was being hurt mentally by my "peace offering" which was given to me by Doctor. _'I wonder what's happened to him to make him have such apprehension in his eyes?'_

* _* _*

Zero's P.o.V 

After Shadow's eyes had gone back to normal I felt myself relax and I started to look into his eyes more closely. I know that I had been staring at him before, but only at the strange colour of his eyes so I didn't look past them and tried to see what was physically there. What I saw in there was the contentment of waking up Talon, the constant anxiety of…of being hurt. Of being hurt? Looking even more closely, I saw what I knew would have been there the second I saw his anxiety. 

I saw fear. 

But it was so well hidden, so deep inside of him that I knew that it would take quite a while before he opened up to us. The only reason I knew that it was there was because it would have taken someone who had the same experience as him or new someone who'd had that experience and gotten to now them to notice it.  

I suddenly felt like I would be able to talk to him as I felt we had something in common. It wasn't exactly the same, but something similar. 

"Well I could get Shadow to wake me up so I can wake you up!"

* * *

Charlie's/ Shadow's P.o.V

When I heard my name I broke eye contact, which in turn seemed to break the spell that we were under as we studied each other. "Wha' abou' me?" I said turning around to look at Talon.

"What I just said. You wake me up early so I can wake up Geode."

I cocked my head to the left with a lopsided grin. "Ah thought you werny (A.N Translation=were not) talkin' to me. And can you remember what the conversation started off with?"

It took Talon about two seconds to remember and when she did she started to scowl at me again. I saw Geode shake his head with his eyes closed and chuckled. "Talon, don't be too angry with him. I told him to wake up you guys so he did. So don't blame him."

"And you didn't tell him to NOT wake me up?"

"Well, I said that he would _try _with you but I didn't think that he would be able to wake you up."

" * Sigh * Okay, Okay. I forgive you for doing that Shad." She said, flashing me a grin.

I blinked, getting really confused by Talon's sudden change in personality. One minute she looked like she wanted to kill me, the next minute, she was grinning like a Cheshire cat and giving me a shorter version of my nickname that is supposed to be a shortening of you real name! I saw Geode grinning at my confusion and walked up to me.

"Don't worry about her fast changing moods." His voice dropped down to a whisper "It's her time of the month."

"GEODE! THAT IS SOOOO NOT TRUE!" I winced as my ear pretty much got the full blast of her shout. "Oh! Sorry Shadow, anyways, he's lyin' about that." She said, now transferring her death glare to Geode. But Geode just shook off her look. 

"Told ya."

I stared at the two as they continued with their friendly bickering and glanced down to Zero who was also watching this with apparent amusement so they must do this quite a lot. 

"Ah take it they do this of'en then." I whispered into Zero's ear. 

"Yeah, they do, but it normally doesn't happen until later, we normally poke fun at her when she first wakes up and she just grunts in return." He whispered in return. 

"So what do you guys do while they work things out?" I said, eyeing Blaze because she was starting to look annoyed as this "argument" had already been going on for about ten minutes already. 

Zero shrugged at my question. "The only thing that we _can do. We wait." He said settling down to get into a comfortable position._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's me finito. ^__^ Heh. Sorry if you guys got all confused with all the swapping of the P.o.Vs. Believe me, later on when I start switching P.o.Vs it'll get pretty confusing…but that's later on. Am I just blabbering in the fic now and do you guys want to get some action? Hopefully there will be a bit more action in the next chapter. And sorry for no usage of Charlie's/Shadow's power and Trilox in this chapter as well. So what do you think what Charlie/Shadow did to wake up Talon? I'm not that sure on what should happen next so…do you want to tell me what you might want to happen? Oh yeah…GAH! Why won't the italics stick in my chapters???? What should have happened in the last chapter was that the part in between the =+=+=+=+=+= bit was all supposed in italics and not just the start of it. I also think that there was waaay too many references to the word "looking". You have no idea how many times I had to go to the thesaurus to get a more interesting word than "looking". Now that I've had my little rant, I can now thank my reviewers;

**Dudems: **Yikes! I'd like, only just posted the new chapter about two minutes before you had reviewed! * Starts chewing on marshmallows * Aw man! By the time I finish this fic (or series) I'm gonna be HUGE! Everyone keeps on giving my cookies and all that! Yeah, Shad has Doctor on his mind, small wonder though…

**Wingcanine: **Hmm,I'm not saying if you're right or wrong. 'coz if I do, I might end up giving it away. I know how you feel about being busy. I have the stinking prelims to worry about…- um, I don't really know if my chapters will be getting any longer but, I don't know if I'm aiming for that either…

Please review!

Dark Ice Dragon


	6. Paranoia

I was bored. Seriously bored. The pair had been going at it for over 30 minutes already. Zero, Blaze and I, we were sitting on the bottom of the stairs with out chins resting in the palms of our hands and our elbows were on top of our knees. So bored. 

Turning my head slightly I asked Zero, "Do they always argue like this?"

Zero was quiet for a while as he pondered an answer. "Not normally, it usually only lasts for about five minutes. That's when Geode ruffles her hair –which she hates- and walks off so that automatically ends the argument."

"Maybe Ah shouldn't 'ave woken her up then," I moaned.

"FINE!"

"GOOD!"

I flinched as their argument started to escalate. Since I'm in my mid-teens, everyone would expect me to listen to rock bands and listen to them at the highest level on the stereo. Except I don't. Thanks to Doctor I never even listened to the radio or came anywhere near something with loudspeakers apart from the PA system. Which meant I would much rather listen to silence then to have my ears blown off. I mean, the names of some rock bands are kind of weird. As far as I can remember, there was some rock bands with things like biscuit, nickel or soup in it for some reason. Come to think of it, how could I know these names if I've never listened to the radio…?  

"Finally!" I heard Blaze mutter. 

Looking up, I saw Geode and Talon walking towards us with smiles on their faces. 

Again I was slightly unnerved by the sudden mood change. In a way I was used to it. And in another was I wasn't. I was used to it because Doctor changed his personality every so often. I wasn't used to it because his personality changed every couple of days, not a couple of hours (or minutes as it seemed the case with Talon.)

"You guys ready to go out then?" Geode asked with just a _little _bit of sarcasm. 

When he asked us that, both Zero and Blaze simultaneously rolled their eyes and glared at him. After that, we heaved ourselves off our backsides and trouped up the stairs to get our shoes on, wishing we'd thought of that sooner.

By the time we had gotten back down the stairs Geode was standing outside feeling the warmth of the sun. 

"So where will we go today?" Geode wondered out loud. It was silent for a few minutes as everyone thought of where they wanted to go for the day. Except for me. I stayed silent because I had no idea of any of the places here, also because I generally never spoke about what I wanted. 

As if Talon had read my mind she said, "Since Shadow doesn't this area, why don't we take him on a tour?"

All their eyes turned to me as they waited for my approval. I nodded. 

Geode clapped his hands once with delight. "Okay, so now that we've got that sorted out, let's go."

* * *

They took me around the back streets, the quiet streets, the busy streets, where they normally hung about when they weren't in the warehouse, every single place that they could think of with an added commentary of Talon. I'd tried to memorise everything but it was impossible as it was a bit much to take on at the one time. It looked like they didn't know how the place they lived in was so vast either. By the time the tour finished, half the day had already gone. 

Although, call me paranoid but I kept on having a feeling that we were being watched and followed. I had always seemed to know when someone was watching me when I was with Doctor. Or it might have been the opposite. Maybe it was just that I was so used to being watched that it felt weird to _not_ be watched. 

I nearly walked right into Blaze before I knew she had stopped. 

_'How come Ah always nearly walk or run into somebody?' _I thought irritably, _' …Oh wait, that's already happened.'_

"Shadow? Do you know where we are?" 

 I turned around to look at Talon and saw that she and Zero were looking expectantly. "Wha' d'ya mean?" I asked. 

"Well, do you recognise anything?"

I stole a quick glance around me. Behind us was a semi quiet street and in front of us was a road. Past the road was some sort of grass meadow with tall trees lining the edges. Almost directly in front of us was a well-trodden dirt road that continued into the distance that also had trees lining it. Since it was barely beginning to turn into fall, the trees were still bushy and the leaves were only just turning into the intense colours of reds, oranges and yellows. But through those colours there were still some hints of pale greens still clinging on hidden amongst them. Apart from the occasional car that passed by it had the air of tranquillity and peace. It seemed strange to have stone buildings behind us since it seemed like the road was the barrier for them and kept the grass meadow to the other side. A sudden gust of wind blew past us, swirling around us and shaking the drying leaves whilst also making the sound of a light and short shower. It looked slightly familiar but I couldn't place it. 

I shook my head, "No. "Ah've ne'er been here before." If I had looked back at Talon instead of continuing to stare at the grass meadow I would have noticed her shoot a look to Geode. But since I didn't, that moment passed me by.

_= I'm _sure_ Charlie would have recognised this place. If he doesn't, then what's he been doin'? It's beginnin' to look like he hasn't been outside of 'The Modern Castle' for a long time, if ever. I've never seen someone so pale either, it's like he hasn't been in the sun for years! And if he can't seem to recognise this bit then it's probably true…=_

I started as I began to hear Talon's thoughts. I frowned faintly by both what Talon was thinking and the fact that it looked like my power was starting to fluxuate again. I was also worried about what was happening. _'Should Ah recognise this place?' I wondered. I looked closer at what was in front of me but I had no recollection of any of this. _' Ah guess 'The Modern Castle' is where she found meh. But what's this place gotta do with me no' goin' out? An' why is my power beginning to fluxuate again?'__

**'Ah thought it only did that after you had an injection?'**

_'Yeah, Ah don't need them anymore anyway so why am Ah doin' this?'_

**'Maybe you're more sensitive to Talon than other people perhaps?'** I could literally feel Trilox shrugging. 

_'Ah don't know. Abou' wha' Talon said, do you recognise this? 'Coz Ah don't an' she's pre''y worried abou' it.'_

**'Ah don't think Ah've seen this either,' **even as he said it, I felt Trilox was hiding something or at least refraining from saying something. I didn't ask him about it because we still wanted a little bit of privacy now and then. 

"Shadow?" Geode's deep voice wandered into my head while I was still thinking.

"Yeah?" I answered absentmindedly.

"Do you want to be left alone to look around yourself?"

"Wha'?" my attention snapped onto Geode as soon as he said it. 

"I _said," he pressed, "do you want to be left alone to look around?" he repeated. _

"Um …" I looked down to stare at my trainers, out of habit. I was so used to being told what to do, that I basically didn't do anything until I was told to do it. And I mean that in a literal way. 

"Charlie, you remember how to get back to the warehouse right?" Blaze asked.

I silently nodded while still staring at my trainers. 

"Well, as fun as it may be having us to talk to, you seem to be a bit of a loner. So you'd probably find your way better if you didn't move in a big group" she said bluntly. 

"I…Ah guess." I stuttered. 

"Shadow, we'll meet you back at the warehouse then."

"Yeah…sure." 

"Shad." I started as Talon whispered in my ear. "Come back before dark, kay?"

"Um…" why did she always have to do this? "Ah'll try to."

"Okay."

As she walked off to watch up with the others I felt a weird sort of detachment. Even though they have accepted me, it was obvious that I hadn't been _truly accepted by them. I had only been accepted because of my beyblading skills and I was in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't, then I'd either still be in 'The Modern Castle' or I'd be wandering the streets. Another thought crossed my mind. I could have escaped but then was caught again by Doctor and been punished … or I was still being punished. I shivered at that thought. So many ifs and ors that could result in a good outcome or a horrific one. _

**'Don't be so negative.'**

_'Ah can't help it. Ah'm a'ways thinkin' tha' somethin' bad is bout t'happen.'_

**'* Sigh * Ever think about _not _thinkin' about the future? Ever think about being optimistic?'**

I shrugged. _'It depends on wha' the thing is, donnit?' _(A.N translation= doesn't it?)

**'Ah s'pose. So do you want to go an explore like they wanted you to?'**

Again I shrugged. "If you want." I must have looked kind of weird just standing with my hands shoved in my trouser pockets staring into space and muttering something every so often. I got that impression when a guy in a grey suit stared at me as he walked past. 

Shrugging it off, I crossed the road and started to walk along the path. The wind seemed to pick up as soon as I walked underneath the trees. It seemed weird, to have something close to complete silence inside the city where you normally heard cars screaming past. The only sound that broke that silence was the breeze that shook the leaves above and below me. It was like I was totally alone here, I couldn't see a single person or hear anything. I walked along the track not taking note of where I was going, just letting my feet take over, I also didn't realize that what was happening was something that had happened before. I heard a rustle of leaves above my head but was a bit confused when I didn't feel the cold breeze suddenly blow into my face or anything. 

"It must've just been a squirrel." I muttered underneath my breath. 

Another rustle. 

I was starting to feel a little uneasy. Whatever it was, it sounded a tiny bit bigger than the common grey squirrel. Looking up, all I could see was the deep colours of the bright leaves with the sun passing through them, making them look a little like a stained glass window. 

Another rustle. 

Yet again, there was no hint of the breeze that would have disturbed the otherwise stationary leaves. 

Suddenly there was a flurry of leaves as something jumped out of the foliage; I tensed as I tried to look at what was there through the falling leaves. I heard it before I saw it. Sighing, I loosened up. 

My would-be attacker was a grey squirrel.  

I guess I _was _too paranoid. The squirrel scurried down the dark cracked bark and then sat up onto its haunches, just staring at me. It looked like it was studying me like I was studying it. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared up another tree as though something had scared it away. 

Looking around, there still wasn't anybody around to be able to do that so I guessed it didn't like being in the open too much.

I continued to walk along and out of habit, I started to trace the edges and grooves of Trilox's 'blade. It felt somewhat comforting to do that. 

@_Charlie, you shouldn't have assumed that everything is over. And you shouldn't have assumed I was a squirrel either. @_

I stopped dead in my tracks and took a wild glace around me, frantically trying to find who had thought that. It couldn't have been Doctor, thankfully, as it didn't feel like it was his thoughts but it sounded like him though…

Another rustle. Just behind me.

Whirling around I caught sight of a brown cloak before the person kicked me so hard in the chest that I crashed into one of the trees behind me. It felt like I couldn't breathe. He or she had knocked all the air out of my lungs and I was struggling to fill them up again. The person was wearing a brown cloak complete with a hood completely covering his or her face. I was about to slide down the tree to stop my cramp but the other person stopped that. He or she pinned my left shoulder onto the tree with his or her right hand, holding me up. Looking at the hand didn't help with the gender of my assailant as it didn't look it belonged to a definite male or female. The person leaned up close to mine –still with his or her face hiding in the shadow of the hood- and hissed, "The person who's paying me wants you very, _very _badly." the voice didn't give anything away either: no accent and it wasn't too high to be a girl nor was it too low to by a guy. "Don't tell me why, I don't want to know why. Just know this, once I get a mission, I _never_ stop until it's finished. Got it?" s/he tightened his/her grip on my shoulder.

My eyes wide with terror and pain, I gulped and nodded. I tried to use my power but it was no use. I needed to concentrate to do that and I certainly wasn't going to be able to do it here. 

"Good." S/he said. S/he tightened his/her hold even more. I squeezed my eyes shut to stop my head from spinning. He'd found me. He got someone to find me and they have. "Open your eyes!" s/he snapped. 

Obediently, I did as I was told. S/he had shifted his/her position while my eyes were closed. Now, his/her left hand was raised at shoulder level and curled into a ball. I barely had time to comprehend to what s/he was going to do before the fist was ploughing into my gut.  

I felt the tears form in the corners of my eyes without my bidding as all the air in my body rushed out for the second time in what seemed like 2 minutes. This time s/he let go of my shoulder and I dropped heavily onto the ground, panting. 

S/he crouched next to me as I strained to breathe and tried to move away from him/her. This time s/he used his/her left hand to make me stay where I was. That's when I heard the approaching footsteps of somebody else. When I heard them, I felt a twinge of hope arise. If that person comes maybe s/he'll scare this person away? Or it could be another person to help this one? 

 As the footsteps became more apparent I became disheartened, as s/he didn't make a move. That means it's someone to help him/her. 

When the person walked up, I saw a lady walk by, glance our way and then carried on walking. I heard my attacker chuckle. I looked fearfully into the dark abyss of the hood. "No one's going to help you. They'd just think that I'm an older sibling and carry on, just like her." 

That's when I knew that I would never get away. Not a hope in the world. 

"See you next time. And of course, I'll be the first to see you as you don't know what I look like do you?"

I jerked my head up in surprise. "Wha'?"

"You're slow aren't you? _I'm leaving._"__

After s/he said that, s/he jumped up and ran off, his/her clock flapping behind him/her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yey! I'm happy now! I've finished my chapter (finally) and I've finished my Prelims! And it's the Christmas hols! Yey!!!!!! The only thing what will bring me down is if the italics and bold doesn't work again. * Sigh * More Charlie bashing…

Were you guys able to get my hints about the rock bands? 

So, to my reviewers:

Dudems: I'm glad that you liked my switch of P.O.V's every so often. Just wait, there's going to be a chapter coming up (I don't know when) when there's going to be _a lot of switching of P.O.V's. Sorry for the long update but I had the prelims. Which I didn't particularly enjoy. _

Wingcanine: * laughs * yeah that's pretty much everyone …apart from * counts off fingers * Doctor, Adam, Beth, Jade, Catherine…you get the idea. And you got them all right as well. 

Priestess Aeria: I don't mind if it takes you a while to review as long as you do. And those brownies were b e a utiful! 

And finally a bit more action! I hope you guys enjoyed it so if you did, please review!


	7. Where are you?

Talon's P.O.V

I scanned the quiet street for what seemed the fiftieth time since dark fell. _=Charlie…where _are _you?! You said that you would be back before dark. Well, okay, you didn't _exactly_ promise to do that but it isn't safe to be out at this time. That must be obvious. It's been dark for over two hours now, why haven't you come back?? Was it because Blaze was too hard on you today? And why did your eyes turn into those purple clouds again? They're so weird. Even you're surprised with them aren't you? That was the reason why you ran away, because you were confused to why we were staring at you. I guess I really shouldn't be so worried 'coz you can take care of yourself can't you? …But the way that you act…why do you always seemed scared? = _I looked up at the stars, hoping they would give me an answer. =_You still haven't told us anything about yourself. You haven't said anything about your past, you barely talk, and when you do, you seem surprised when someone _does _talk to you or want you opinion…= _ 

Looking back down again, all I saw was the nearly black street. A gust of wind suddenly blew past, chilling me even further. That was the proof that winter was coming, with all the winds coming and going and it was getting colder in the evenings now. Then, beside me, a sliver of light appeared by my feet. That subsequently widened until a silhouette materialized in the middle of it. 

"Talon?" it was Geode, surprisingly enough…not. His shadow alone was enough to tell me who it was; he's the tallest in the gang so it was obvious that it was him. 

"Hmm?"

"Don't you think you should come in?" he asked softly.

I shook my head. Not totally sure he had seen that I said, "No. I can't, he's still out th-"

He didn't have to ask who 'he' was. "Talon," he interrupted, "are you sure that he's going to come back? I mean, he would have come back by now, wouldn't he?"

"Geode, he said he wouldn't run away again. I mean, what if he's out there somewhere, hurt, and we're just waiting here! What if he's been in an accident and he's in hospital?!" I was starting to work myself into a frenzy. All my pent up emotions were just tumbling out at the one time. "What if he's-"

"Shhhhh." I felt Geode's hand grab my upper arm. Without realizing it, I had started to walk in the direction where we had last seen Charlie. "Talon, if you go and find him, we're going to have to have _two_ search parties instead of one!"

"But I can't stand waiting around like this! If he _is_ dying somewhere I'm going to blame myself for it!"

"Dying? Don't you think you're exaggerating just a tiny bit? And why would you blame yourself? You aren't the only one who left him there." He said trying to comfort me and to also try and stop me from probably running into a car. 

"Yeah, but, I'm the one who brought him out here wasn't I? I'm…I'm beginning to think that that was a bad idea." I mumbled.

"Talon, believe it or not, I think you helped him a lot just by taking him out of there." He said slowly.

I turned back around to him, surprise written clearly on my face. "What?"

"Think this over okay?" he said before I could say anything else, "Think of how Shadow holds himself, how he reacted to certain things; what did he do and what did he say? Now tell me, what does it remind you of?"

I was silent for a few moments as I thought about what Geode was asking me to think about. All I could really think about was his eyes that always seemed to change colour. Then my thoughts drifted to what I was thinking a few minutes ago. I shook my head trying to remember exactly what I was thinking of. I knew that I knew it; I just couldn't remember precisely what it was. 

" * Sigh * I don't know. What does he remind you of?"

"Zero, when we first found him."

_=Zero? Oh, of course! But he doesn't look like he's been beaten though. Just more of always being scared. Hmm, I haven't really seen him smile either, apart from after me and Blaze got him back to the warehouse and he started lookin' at Geode in that weird way…=_

"But what does he have to be scared of? He doesn't have a mark on him."

"We haven't really seen him though."

"Huh?"

"He's always wearing that jumper isn't he?" he explained. "And who knows where he could have been beaten? It could be anywhere on him. It's not as if we can ask him to strip so we can make sure that he hasn't been beaten." Geode stopped suddenly as he thought of something. "Although, I had a little talk with him before, and, well, what happened next I totally didn't expect." He then added.

"What are you talkin' about? I've been there with him the whole time and I haven't seen you have "a little talk" with him." I said. 

"It was early in the morning, so it instantly rules you out as being there." I could hear the teasing in his voice. "Anyways, I pretended that I was nasty and a bully. You know, just lying down the "rules" and stuff like that."

"And they would be…?" I interjected. 

"Um, he has to follow my orders and when he talks to me he has to look down and call me Sir."

I spluttered with laughter at that. "I can't believe you said that! And what did he say in return?" I had to cover my mouth because I was making so much noise. It was just so funny that he tried to be the serious leader for once; he thinks that that's the wrong way of leading people. He believes it's better to have people trust you than for them to fear you.

"That's what I didn't expect." my laughter died in my throat as I heard the soft tone in his words. "What he did…what he did was exactly what I told him to. He bowed his head and whispered "Yes Sir." Just like that. No argument, just…"Yes Sir." I thought he was joking at first when he instantly put his head down. But when he said it, I knew. I knew he wasn't joking. And when I told him to look up I could see it in his eyes. His fear and apprehension. No one can fake that. After that, it was like he closed up again when I asked him to wake you guys up. It's the way that he acts; it doesn't point straight away to the fact that something bad happened to him. To us, it's just like he isn't keen on talkin' and wants to keep himself to himself. It's little things that point to a bad childhood. And you'd only see them if you knew what they were and probably if you're lookin' for them as well."  He was now leaning on the wall beside me gazing at the stars like I was before he came out. 

I suddenly remembered a few things that Charlie had said while we were going to the hideout after I found that they others weren't there. 

~*~* Flashback ~*~*

_"Right, first off, what's your name and what were you doing in a place like that?" I asked so I would at least be able to tell Geode his name._

_"My name's Charlie and um, Ah don't really know what Ah was doin' there."_ __

_* * *_

_"You didn't answer my question, what were you doing there?" I demanded. "And 'I don't know' isn't an answer. And also, you wanted me out of there so badly but you yourself were so hesitant to go. Except you suddenly changed your mind. Why?" _

_"I . . .I can't say. Could you please respect my privacy and not ask me again? I'll tell you in my own time, just, don't force me to tell you right now."_

_~*~ *_ End Flashback ~*~*

=_How could he not__ know what he was doing there?=_

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah, I'm thinkin' about some things that he said after I met him."

"And those things would be…?" Geode said after it became apparent that I wasn't going to say anything else.

"Things like how he didn't know what he was doin' in 'The Modern Castle'. When I tried to get him to talk more about it he sort of, got all formal."

"What did he say?"

"Something along the lines of 'Please respect my privacy and don't ask me again. I'll tell you what I was doing there, just not right now.' And not in the near future either it sounded like it me. Which is kinda of weird now that I think about it. One minute he's saying that he doesn't know what he's doing in there, a while later, he's hinting that he might tell me." I blew the air out through my teeth, getting more frustrated than ever.  "Maybe he _is _insane." I muttered underneath my breath.

"Why would you say that?" Geode seemed more surprised than angry when I said that. 

"Well, I think he hears voices in his head."

"And what gives you that idea?" As always, he wants facts that prove it and not just what people think. 

"When I first bumped into him, when he saw me he was so shocked like he had never seen a girl before. He then pretty much dragged me out…oh wait, he did drag me out of there."

"What?!" 

"I'm getting' to that bit! But before he had done that he was pleading with me to get out. He seemed so jittery, always lookin' over his shoulder and lookin' about the place like he was expectin' someone to jump out of the shadows. Hmm, he said something about a they. 'They mustn't find you here!' When I asked him who 'they' was he suddenly changed the subject that would get me out of there as fast as possible. That's when I explained about the dare you guys gave me. He was quiet for about a minute and then he cried out 'Trilox! You're not helping!' -"

"Waitaminute." He said, interrupting me. "Did you say Trilox?"

"Yeah," I said whilst also nodding. "That's what he said. Anyway-"

"Talon, do you what Trilox is?"

I was confused about that. "What? I thought Trilox was a person with a really weird foreign name."

"It's not," I saw him shake his head from the light from the door. "Trilox is definitely an It. Don't you remember hearing it before?"

"You mean he's had another crazy moment?!" I exclaimed. 

"No. He hasn't. You don't remember? He shouted it out." He answered without really answering my question. 

"Nuh-uh. I think I would have remembered if he shouted _that word again."_

"He did. It was during our beybattle."

Now I was getting even more confused. "Why would he shout a random name in a beybattle?"

"That's the point. He didn't." he took a deep breath before starting again. "When he shouted out that name, that's when that three headed velociraptor _bitbeast _came out. And think of its name, TRI-lox. The tri would stand for the three heads its got. I've no idea about the lox though, it's not like it has any hair or anything…"

I didn't laugh at his little joke. I was too focused on remembering the battle to even notice it. "That would explain it though wouldn't it?" I murmured.  

"Explain what?"

"Why he never said anything in the battle apart from to shout out Trilox's name. It has a mind of its own. But why would he seem like he was talkin' to it then? Sure, they're some kind of spirits but that doesn't mean they're goin' to answer back does it?"

"No. It doesn't. Talon, what happened next? After he said the thing with Trilox?"

"Somethin' kinda weird. He did a half shrug for no apparent reason, walked up to me and _then dragged me outside. Maybe he heard that Trilox 'talk' again and it told him to get me outside? Yet again, he got all edgy when he let go of me in that playground bit." I felt myself smile faintly as I remembered the next bit. "That's when I realized that he wouldn't let me in another time so I decided to bring __him for the dare. That's another weird thing. He chaperoned (A/N Is that the right spelling?) me out of there, desperate for me to leave before 'they' find me, but when it comes to him leaving," I shook my head, "it was like, I don't know, he didn't want to leave. No. That's not right…He said that he __couldn't. He was quiet again for a minute. Then for some reason he pulled out his beyblade and did something on his wrist with it. I didn't really notice what he did 'coz I was sayin' somethin' about my dare being completed." I turned my face away from Geode's as I thought about it more. "When he took it away, there was somethin' else there…a gold bracelet. Now that I think about it, when it was off, he looked so relieved. But why would he be happy with a piece of jewellery being off his person?"_

"Who knows? Maybe he'll tell us in time? Maybe me won't. It's up to him isn't it? Now, are you sure you don't want to come in and wait for him there?"

"I've already answered that question and it's still the same. I'm not comin' in unless Shadow's with me."

I saw a small white cloud come out of Geode's mouth as he sighed, showing how cold it was and probably showing that it was going to get colder. "Okay, I know that you won't change your mind anytime soon. I just hope that he comes back soon or else I'm goin' to have to do my mean act on him again. I'll leave the door open so you might be able to see him better." After he said that, he ruffled up my hair before entering the warmer warehouse. 

I attempted to straighten out my hair as my breath became more visible but it didn't really work. Looking skywards again I silently asked them to send Charlie this message, _=Charlie, where _are_ you?=_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

I finished this one quickly! Yey! So was the spelling right? I'm thinking about doing a system where I e-mail people to tell them that I've got a new chapter up. It's just that I usually upload when I've got the majority of people reviewed, (okay, granted that's only three people so I usually upload when two people review) which takes a while since you guys usually take your time. Should I do it?

So what did you guys think about this chapter? I thought their talk was going to be shorter but * shrugs * ah well. Truthfully, I have no idea on when or how this fic is going to end. I'm just writing what I planned out before and well, this is the last planned chapter. I have the gist to what's going to happen in the next chapter, but…well, we'll have to see how this pans out won't we? 

Anyways, this bit is for my reviewers:

Dudems: Lol. Yes, I know how hyper you were. And lookie! I uploaded a new chapter pretty fast this time!

Um, in the next chapter there's going to be a bit of romance in the next chapter. I know it sounds a bit weird after saying what I said a couple of paragraphs up but I've started writing the next chapter already. 

So don't forget to review!

Dark Ice Dragon__


	8. Thinking

Charlie's P.O.V

_=Charlie, where _are _you?=_

_'What the-?' _I looked around the dim street trying to find the person who thought that thought. The only light was from the warehouse that I was heading towards. Although…it sounded like Talon. If it was Talon, then I must be getting close to the warehouse. 

After that "fight" that I had, I stayed where I was. Even after darkness fell I stayed seated by the roots of the tree. Thinking. Trilox didn't say a thing to me either, I guess he could sense that I didn't want to talk at that particular moment. I was thinking about everything again. About how I got here, what I did, what I didn't do. Things like that. I couldn't help it. Being attacked like that brought a sharp perspective on what was probably happening. You don't have to be a genius to work out who that person was working for. 

Doctor.

I guess it was also kind of obvious why he told that person to beat me up a bit. To show that he was still in control. It showed that he could have me back at any given moment, that he was prolonging my time outside because he only willed it. I guess I wasn't being paranoid then today when I thought we were being followed. I stopped in my tracks as I thought of something. _'How is tha' possible? We were being followed, so how did that person get up the tree without making that much noise? And without me seeing? Okay, he or she scared the squirrel out of place but there should have been more than that though. Maybe…?'_ I quickly dismissed that thought. '_Why would he? There would be no point in doin' that. It would have been a waste of money.' _I started walking again. I then thought of something else which nearly made me stop again. _'Talon. If they know where I am then…'_ I gulped at my conclusion. '_What is he goin' to do to them? Would he bring them back, or have 'em… have them killed? Which would be better? To be able to see them every day but to see them die a little bit inside every day? Or to never see them again but at least I'll be able to remember them as they were…Unless…unless Doctor makes me forget again…'_

"Charlie? Charlie!" before I knew it, something had tackled me. Because of what had happened before it's not too surprising that I thought it that same person attacking me again. The only thing I knew was that I was going to let it happen again. That's how I ended up on my back on top of the cold concrete pavement, my breath knocked out of me and the person who attacked me on top. And that's how I noticed that the person who was now attacking me was a lot shorter than before and wasn't wearing a hooded cloak either. "Where have you _been?!" _as soon as I had heard her voice I knew instantly who it was. Talon, who was right now, shouting in my ear. Very loudly. "You said that you'd be back before dark! It's been over two hours already! Do you have _any_ idea how worried I've been?! You aren't blind, why didn't you start coming back as soon as it started to get dark?! It's dangerous to be out after dark!" I had an ironic smile when she said (or shouted) that. 

_'It's dangerous to be out _before_ dark as well.' _I thought.

"Ooooh. There is _no_ way I'm letting you out of my sight again buster! If you do this again-!"

"Talon," a deep voice interrupted her, "how can he do it again if you won't let him out of your sight?" 

Suddenly Talon was yanked off me and I saw it was Geode who had his arm around her waist while she was trying to get him off her. Behind him, from the light of the warehouse –which I nearly passed because of my musings- I saw Blaze and Zero. 

Blaze walked up to me and held out her hand indicating that she wanted to help me up. After a little bit of hesitation I took her hand. After I was up on my feet again Talon latched herself on me after somehow freeing herself off Geode. "Um, Talon?" I said while looking down on her head, not returning her hug, "Would you possibly…could you maybe um, let go of me?" 

"No." was her firm reply. I winced (hopefully unnoticed) as her arms tightened around me some more.

I heard Geode chuckle and I felt my face redden slightly -and it wasn't because of the cold either. "Talon, if you won't get off him would you at least loosen your hold on him so he can breathe?" he said.

I felt Talon relax her arms slightly around me and when I say slightly, I _mean_ slightly. She barely moved her arms a centimetre from where they were before. 

"Talon, I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend?" this remark came from Blaze in a stage whisper. 

That promptly made her get off me. "And I'm saying it again! He isn't my boyfriend!" my ears were beginning to ring again as she had been shouting pretty much all of the time since she tackled me to the ground. 

"Um, you guys?" Zero's voice sounded quieter than it normally did. "If you haven't noticed, it's absolutely freezin' out here! Could we _please _continue this argument _inside_?  Where it's nice and warm?" when he said that I noticed he was shivering a little bit. 

I saw Geode nod in agreement. "He's right. We really shouldn't be out here and I have a feeling that it's goin' to start rainin' again." he said while gazing into the cloudy night sky.

Following his stare I saw the almost invisible clouds gather seemingly right above our heads.   

As we walked back into the warehouse I glanced over my shoulder nervously to make sure that we weren't being watched. I blinked several times when I stepped into the not-exactly-but-still-pretty-bright lights of the warehouse. While I was getting used to the glare the others made themselves comfortable on the ground and waited for me. 

"You mind telling us what happened?" Geode's voice was calm but it had a hint of more than a little annoyance. I looked down, not wanting to meet his calm stare. 

'What can Ah say? Ah can't tell the truth, Ah doubt they'd believe me if Ah did. An' there would be so many questions. Questions Ah wouldn't be able t'answer… Couldn't be able to answer. Ah should have thought of what to say to them…'

**'You could just lie you know.'**

'Well, duh! Bu' wha' can Ah tell them? Ah can't really say that I didn't know what time it was 'coz she told me to be back by nightfall. Ah think it's pretty obvious tha' Ah'm no blind, don't you think? So that one's out the window.

"Well?" he said when I didn't say anything in return. I still didn't say anything. The silence that was stretching on didn't seem like it minutes, more like centuries. And yet I still didn't say a thing. I guess that's what I could tell them. Nothing. I heard the others shift uncomfortably and then Geode's sigh. 

"It's been a long day, I suppose that everyone's tired so…we'll talk about this more in the morning." I was glad that he had an excuse (hopefully) for my benefit. I was even more glad when they all agreed to it. I had to take a few steps backwards as I was in everyone's way to getting upstairs. 

"Shadow…" I looked up and saw it was Talon. She looked a lot calmer than what she did a few moments before. "Shadow, please, tell me what happened. Why were you so late? You said you knew the way so…?" she said pleading in her voice and eyes.

"I…well I," I coughed, "I go' lost. That's why Ah was so late. This place is so big, Ah thought Ah knew the way back but when Ah tried to find my way here…" I shrugged. "That's why it took me so long." I wasn't exactly lying, but I wasn't exactly telling the truth either. I was lost, yeah, but I was lost in my thoughts. But I did get lost in the streets a couple of times. Just not for very long. 

"Is that it? Why didn't you say so just now?" she asked, all traces of pleading seeming to have disappeared. 

I shrugged again. "Ah guess it was 'coz Ah was embarrassed." I said softly. 

"Hmmm, I guess that'll be a good enough reason." She sighed. "Shadow, can I ask you another question?" she said timidly. 

"Yeah, Ah s'pose." I answered slowly, my guard starting to creep up again. 

"What were you doin' in 'The Modern Castle'? I mean, it's sort of obvious that you haven't been out for some time, 'coz, well, you seem kind of too pale to be healthy, no offence." She added the last part quickly. "What I'm tryin' to say is, is, you were living in there weren't you? In 'The Modern Castle'. We've never seen anyone enter or leave that place, well, there is that lady…she always dressed in black…"

I stared at her when she said that. Lady? Always dressed in black? I didn't even have to think about who she was talking about. As soon as Talon said that there was a lady who came into the building then an image of her instantly popped up into my head. 

"Shad? What's wrong?" she said when she noticed that I was staring at her. 

"Uh, it's nothing. It's just that I think who she is. I'd seen her around but she never told me her name. I didn't ask her either." I didn't tell her how I'd more than seen her, she interfered with my life (if you could call it that) and changed it from what it used to before she came along. Then again, my life was topsy-turvy anyway; maybe if something else happens my life would go to normal?

Fat chance.

Like my life would be able to turn back to normal just because of something happening in it. My life will never be the same again. Ever. How can it be? I'm not normal. And I certainly will never be ever again. Not in a million years. Unless scientists can work out how to splice human D.N.A take out the abnormal pieces and then put in normal human D.N.A where they had taken out the other stuff. I know that the transgenic stuff is already possible, but as far as I am aware of, they are only possible with small organisms. It just hasn't been tried on the more complex human, and my white blood cells might kill off those new cells anyway. They'd probably destroy them before they could duplicate themselves into more of them since they are sort of foreign bodies.

"Okay." We both lapsed into silence as we mulled over our thoughts. "I guess we should go to sleep now, shouldn't we?" she said finally. 

"Yeah." I was starting to play around with Trilox's blade (who was inside of my pocket) again anyway. When we got upstairs Talon instantly lied on top of the mattress next to Blaze like she did the night before. Somehow, everybody was already sleeping, they seemed like they were anyway. Goodness knows how they were able to sleep that fast. Again there was that empty mattress next to Zero. 

'But Ah'm sure saw Geode go up the stairs though.' Looking around I saw a chair that I hadn't seen before, and sitting on top of that chair was Geode. His legs were stretched straight out in front of him while his arms were folded over his chest while his shoulders were about halfway down the back of the seat. I've no idea how he did it, but he was also sleeping in that weird position. 'Why would he sleep on the chair when there's a spare mattress? Ah mean, c'mon, the mattress has to be comfier than that wooden thing isn't it?'

Still wondering about this, I laid on the mattress and stared at the ceiling above me as I waited for sleep to come to me. 

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, I didn't bolt up or anything. For the first time in years I had been able to sleep without nightmares or something disturbing my sleep. For the first time in years I had been able to sleep a dreamless sleep and not have to worry about what was going to happen the next day. 

The only problem was… my body felt pretty sore after the beating it received yesterday. I didn't really feel the one on my chest; that one just felt like a dull throb. Apart from when it actually happened, I only felt really it when Talon was hugging me. Mainly as when she rested her head on my chest, her head was slap-bang right on top of the bruise that was there. But the bruise that was definitely the worst was the one on my abdomen. Because of where it was, I had a little trouble with breathing. Every thing else seemed to be okay apart from that. 

Again, it looked like I was the first person to wake up. And again, those covers appeared out of nowhere. I had a distinct feeling that it was Geode who was getting the covers. Based primarily on the facts that he was the second person to wake up after me and that he was sleeping in that chair which I still have no idea how he could fall asleep in it. Unless he was just pretending to be. But where the covers could be hidden in, it didn't look like there was any cupboards or anything like that so where…? 

'Ah wonder wha' time is it?' I mused while I waited for the others to wake up. 'Does it even ma''er? These guys live for the day, never plannin' what would happen next. Sometimes, no' even caring. I wonder…those doors were locked. So how the heck did Talon get inside the building?? The dare was a bit farfetched 'coz how would she find somethin' that would prove that she was in there? From where they were s'posed to be hidin', they wouldn't have seen her go in so she could have just cheated.' I sighed silently as I thought about it. 'Ah guess they were curious as well as bored. Ah wonder wha' we're gonna do today? Ah s'pose Ah should say that Ah got lost 'coz it would be a bit suspicious if Ah said one thing one day and then something else the next.' A faint frown formed on my face as a memory -a fuzzy one at that- started to materialize in my head without me trying to remember it. The weird thing was, I didn't recall it happening. Ever. The reason? It was outside. Not 'outside' as in the enclosure, but outside outside. As in streets and cars and people. Apart from there wasn't anyone in this memory. How did I know that if I'm certain that I haven't experienced this? Okay, near the start there is actually somebody in it. I intertwined my fingers together, placed them behind my head as I half closed my eyes and let the memory weave itself into my minds eye… 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    
    Ta-ra! Finished! He-he. I didn't even know that I was going to end it there. Just to let you guys know, I've written the last chapter for this fic. But I don't know when that's going to come in. At the very least it'll be in the double digits. And I have a feeling that everyone's gonna hate how it ends. So now to my reviewers:
    
    Dudems: you always like the way the chapter was written. ^__^ I can't really write romance and it wasn't that much but meh. What did you think of that bit?
    
    Niphredil: Yey! You actually reviewed! Finally! * Dances around the room like a lunatic *  ^__^" heh. Told ya I would do that if/when you reviewed. Thank you thank you thank you! So hope that you review this chapter!
    
    Dark Ice Dragon__


	9. Memories? How?

I peeked through the slits in my eyes before deciding that it was morning and the light was too bright to be normal. After blinking a lot to clear my eyes a bit I saw that the blinds were open.

'Where am I? Why can't I control what I'm doin'? Where is this room?'

_I turned to my right to glance at the luminous clock on the bedside table. '11:41AM? How the heck did Ah sleep in so late? I changed and went downstairs._

_"Morning sleepy head."_

'A woman's voice…'

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" I mumbled back.

'Could it be?'

_"You looked so peaceful sleeping like that." she said with a smile on her lips._

'It can't…' This woman had long, curly, dark brown hair which fell down to the middle of her back and her eyes nearly matched her hair perfectly for colour except they were a touch lighter. 

I prepared my breakfast and thought about what I could do for the day ahead. 'The park maybe? Or just some more explorin'?' After eating, I walked lazily back to my room to get my beyblade and a jumper just in case it got colder.

'Is this my bedroom?' This time I had more time to 'look' around the room even thought I couldn't control where I looked. My bed (I guess) was right up against the bottom right corner. The posters stuck onto the wall were mostly of people from movies. Female people. Although not all of stuff on the wall were about movies. Others were drawings, mainly of one guy. They seemed kind of decent except that for some reason he had a tail. Underneath him there was some sort of signature that said FF IX - Zidane. The walls behind them were painted an aqua blue. There were books everywhere; they were lying on the floor, on the table, even on the bed. 

As I walked down the stairs I half shouted, "Mum! Ah goin' ou' now! See ya later!"

'Mum? I can't…I can't believe it. Then…this is a memory. But I thought…I though practically all of my memories was erased?'

"Okay." I heard her say behind me as I left.

As soon as I got outside I scanned the skies to see what the weather was like. Dark. That's what the sky looked like. There were heavy looking clouds, which seemed to bring the smell of rain. I didn't mind. I was used to it as it is since I was from Scotland. 

'So wha' Geode said was spot-on. I'm from Scotland…'

But what everyone said wasn't true. We do actually have sun and it doesn't rain every single day. What is true is that you should never trust the weather people. They never seemed to get the readings right. 

I walked about aimlessly for a bit, not thinking what I should do. I just let my feet go wherever they wanted. I had stuffed my hands in my jumper, which I had put on when the wind began to get stronger. Out of habit when I did this, I had my beyblade in one of my hands and my fingers traced the edges and grooves of my 'blade. Like I said. I wasn't looking where I was going. 

'Is this what I used to be like before…? Should I be goin' in this part of town?'

I didn't notice that I had come to a new area that I hadn't explored before. There was no one about. Not even any parked cars. I guess that was because of the threat of rain. The street looked like a ghost town. I sighed. I just kept on going in the same direction as I did before wondering if I kept on going I might end up somewhere I had been before. I heard the rumble of a car engine just behind me. I didn't think anything of it. I then heard the click of a door opening and two people stepping out.

'No. This can't be happening! Please say it didn't…'

 Then the soft tapping of rain came to my ears. Finally. After about two hours warning it had finally come. Something to remind me of what I had left behind. I heard the sharp tap of the peoples' shoes on the pavement. They were coming straight for me. I moved out of the way so that they could pass as it sounded like they were in a hurry. 

'Nononononononono! It couldn't have happened like this!'

It was too late before I noticed that when I moved the sound of the footsteps changed to become parallel to mine. By now they were right on top of me when I felt someone's arms grab me tightly around my waist. As I sharply turned to see who it was, simultaneously I felt the sharp jab of something enter the top of my arm. As soon as that had happened I felt the strength of my legs just disappear. I barely had enough strength to keep my eyes open let alone yell for help. That was my last thought before my world turned hazy and then…total darkness.

* * *

My eyes sprang open as soon as the memory had stopped 'playing'. 'Ah can't believe it. Is that how it all started? That was when everything in my life changed?' I raked my hand through my hair before sitting up and leaning on the wall behind the mattress before I continued with my thoughts. 'But why now? Why does it look like my memories are coming back?  Ah thought, tha' everythin' was permanent? My powers and my now non-existent-but-suddenly-coming- back memories. Shouldn't that mean, if my memories are coming back then wouldn't my powers start to fade? Trilox? Wha' do you think?'

**'Ah honestly dunno. But if you're powers are goin' to fade then you wouldn't be able to talk to me…'**

'What?!'

**'Duh. If your powers fade, your power is that you can talk to me so duh!' **there was an edge in his voice that I'd never heard before.

'Trilox. What's wrong? Jeez! You've never been this sarcastic before.'

*** Sigh * 'It's nothing. It's just that if your power is goin' to fade then I'm gonna be sooo bored 'coz Ah won't have anyone to talk to.'**

'Uh, hello? Wha' about me? Ah won't either.'

**'Uh, hello? There are other humans in this room other than you. Me on the other hand, Ah can only talk to you 'coz your weird.'**

'……Thanks.'

**'Heh. You're welcome. But still, you're the only person Ah've been able to talk to ever since I "woke up" in 'The Haunted Mansion' or whatever those kids call it. **

'The Modern Castle.' I corrected. 

**'Fine, like Ah said, whatever it's called.'**

'Man, I just hope that it's just my memories are comin' back an' that's all that's happenin'.'

**'Don't we all.'**

"Shadow?" looking up I saw that it was Geode who was now awake. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's nuthin'."

It didn't look like he bought it. "Uh-huh. Shouldn't you get some more sleep? You were the last person to fall asleep after all."

"Um, how'd you know that I was the last person to get to sleep?"

"When you and Talon came upstairs, Blaze and Zero had already gone to dozed off and I was just about to. Talon fell asleep pretty much straight away and just as I was about to drop off you were still awake so that's everythin´." He explained.

"Oh." It was silent for a few moments since we didn't know what to say to each other.

"So what happened to you last night?" he enquired.

I shifted uncomfortably as I tried to remember what I had told Talon last night. "Ah got lost. It took me quite a bi' of time to find ma way back." 'And Ah found some more stuff out about myself as well.'

"But I thought you knew how to get back?"

"Yeah well, I'd wandered 'round 'bout the place so that must've wuz when Ah got lost." Zero stirred quietly beside me. 

"I guess the others are gonna wake up pretty soon." He said in a soft voice. 

"Yeah." Again the room lapsed into silence. 

"Could I ask you a question?" he asked suddenly. I nodded while I also had a feeling of déjá vu. "How long have you lived in 'The Modern Castle' for?" 

It didn't even take me under a minute to remember. "Somethin' like two years." I didn't realize what that sounded like until it left my mouth.

"Two years." he repeated. "So where were you before you stayed there?"

"Uh… Ah don't remember." I said truthfully. "Ah've got amnesia." I explained quickly before he could say anything. 

"Got…? You still have amnesia even after all that time?"

"Yeah."

"Were you were livin' in there to try and recover your memories?" he asked. I shook my head. "What are you guys talkin' about?" So much for having a private talk. 

"Mornin' to you too Blaze." Geode said instead of answering her question. 

"Fine." She said while rolling her eyes. "If you guys don't want to spill about your 'guy talk' to us girls then keep it to yourself. What do you plan on doin' today then?" 

"What do you feel like doin'?"

"Well that's why I was askin' you. I don't know either."

That's when Zero decided to wake up with a groan. "Put out the light! I wanna go back to sleep!" he complained, at the same time groping at his cover to envelop his head. Hearing this, both Geode and Blaze laughed quietly. 

"Zero, there isn't a light on. Unless you're saying that we can somehow put out the sun with a thought but I somehow doubt it." Blaze said lightly. 

"It doesn't mean that I don't wanna get up though." He replied groggily. "Okay, okay, I'm up. You don't have to wake me up forcefully."

"Wha' abou' Talon?" I asked. "Ah don't wanna wake her up again. Mainly 'coz Ah have a feelin' that she'd prolly bite my head off or somethin' like that if Ah'm the one who wakes her up." I said nervously. 

"Don't worry." Answered Zero. "She'd do that to whoever woke her up. Or she'd do that because we left her behind here. Whatever happens she's usually in a bad mood in the mornin'."

"I DO NOT do that every single day!" came an indignant retort. Everyone smiled at this.

"Of course not. There's only been about one day when you've woken up on time." Talon sat up and rubbed her head. 

"There has to be more days than that." she muttered. 

"Nope. I'd remember since that would be ground-breakin' stuff to find out that you've woken up on time. Anythin' else?"

"Could you guys please stop makin' fun of me just because I can't get up as easily as you?" she grumbled. 

"We can't help it. It's because it's so easy to wind you up in the morning." Talon mumbled something incoherently in return.

"What was that?" Blaze asked teasingly. 

"Nothing that I would like to repeat."

"So what are we goin' to do today then?" Geode asked, raising the question to everyone. Nearly everyone shrugged to it. "In that case, how about we have a little beybattle tournament?" At that comment Talon groaned.

"They always end up the same though! You always beat everybody so what's the point?"

"Yeah, but this time there's a difference. Isn't there Shadow?" he said craftily. When Blaze caught on she smirked.

"It looks like there's goin' to be a showdown between the two of you. And we all remember what the outcome was last time don't we?"

"Heh. And this time I'm lookin' for a rematch!" Geode said with glint in his eye. "This time you aren't goin' to surprise me with your bitbeast. This time you're goin' down my friend!"

I smiled slightly at his antics to intimidate me. "Wasn't it that kinda attitude that lost you the match the last time?" I asked him innocently. 

"Uh…No comment." At this every body laughed, including me. It felt good to express my feelings like this instead of hiding them.

"Oh my god!" Startled, I looked towards Talon who was staring at me. "You actually laughed! You're happy!" she shrieked.

"Uh…" For some reason everyone started laughing even harder.

"Well, he was happy. Now he's back to being confused because of your daft behaviour as per usual." Zero gasped in between his sniggering.

"Do Ah a'ways look confused to you guys?" I quizzed them.

"Yup. Either that or sort of perplexed when her mood changes. Which as you know is about every ten minutes or you could even count it in seconds." Blaze said with a snort.

"Hey!"

I stared up at the ceiling for a moment as I mulled over what she said. "Ah thought confused an' perplexed meant the same thing?"

"Um." Blaze shrugged. "Perplexed has more of a hint of agitation than confusion. That's what I think of it anyways."

"Not to go off this rather interestin' conversation but how about that beyblade contest? I wanna see the face off between Geode and Shadow." Interrupted Talon. 

"Don't presume that they're goin' to be the finalists straight away. There could be surprises." Zero remarked. 

Blaze shook her head. "The positions are always the same. Geode gets first place and I get second. The only difference is who gets third and last place."

"But like Geode said, this time Shadow's joining in." Zero said.

"Anyways, are we goin' to talk about who's goin' to win or are we goin' to actually find out?" 

"There's a small problem though." I interjected. "We can't do this in pairs because there's five people here. So how are we supposed to do this?"

"…" They were stumped on what to do. 

"We could do an eliminator round I suppose. We all launch our blades at the same time and it ends when two peoples blades have stopped spinning or have been knocked out of the dish. The first two people to lost will then battle it out to get third and last place." Geode said slowly. Everyone nodded in agreement. 

"Sounds good enough."

"So lets get started already!"

* * *

"Okay! Three…two…one! Let it riip!"

At that moment we all yanked the ripcords out of our launchers. Instantly they all crashed into each other in the middle. There wasn't enough time to whose beyblade belonged to each other but the colours that I could see were silver (which was mine), black (that was Geode's), green, purple and red. 

"Attack!" The others said in unison. 

There was a clash as all of our 'blades met in the middle of the beydish. As soon as the blades were pushed back from the force of their attack they began to weave in and out of each other attacking and defending in the same breath as they tried to put somebody out and stay in the dish at the same time. It's not that easy when you're trying to focus your attack on somebody's beyblade when someone else slams into you. The beyblade's were moving so fast that the colours were staring to blur and sometimes when they collided the colours would mix along with having a flurry of sparks as well. Even after a couple of seconds it was easy to see which 'blades were beginning to struggle. It was the green and purple beyblade's, which I then assumed must have been Zero's and Talon's. 

'Trilox?'

"Dodge it!" I heard someone shout.

**'Uh-huh? Which one do you want me to target?'**

"Ha! There's no way you can run away!" I heard somebody else crow.

'Hmm. Go for the purple one. That one seems to be havin' the most trouble-'

"Shadow!" I jerked up from my conversation with Trilox. "There's no way you're goin' to get leave this battle without a few scratches on your 'blade!" Geode half shouted. 

'Okay, scratch that! I'd say you've got to defend yourself against Geode. I don't want you tiring out or gettin' completely trashed before the last match, if we get there.'

"Have you blanked out on us?!"

**'Of course we'll get there.' **Trilox growled.** 'Ah'm jus' goin' to power through them all to get away from Geode.'**

Someone laughed. "I think he's just really focused on the match!"

'Okay.'

That said Trilox ran though the mini match between the red and green 'blade with Geode on his 'heels'. Where the purple one went I had no idea. 

"Ya! Shadow, you nearly knocked my 'blade over!" Zero yelled.

'Trilox can you see where that purple ones disappeared to? 'Coz Ah don't think it's been knocked out for some reason.'

**'Hang on a minute. They've decided to band together against us to make sure we have some 'scratches'.'**

"Now!"

'How'd you kn-'

There was a bang as three beyblades simultaneously attacked Trilox. 

**'Does that answer your question?!' **Shaking my head I let Trilox manage it on his own. Just as I thought, he attacked the green one first.

"Talon? Where's your beyblade?" I asked her.

She gave me a mischievous smile. "And why should I say? I want it to be a surprise." She said mysteriously. Not knowing what to say to her I turned back to Trilox's battle.

'How's it goin'?'

"Attack him again!"

**'Ah honestly have no idea. Ah think that-Ouch!' **The ouch was because Blaze's 'blade (I think) slammed into him at that particular moment. 

'Okay, Trilox, dodge to your left as soon as Geode attacks and then attack him when his defence is down. Like what you did last time.'

"Attack!"

'**Got'cha.' **

Unfortunately Geode was faster than what we anticipated so when he charged at Trilox he was still able to knock into him. Still, Trilox was able to attack Geode from behind. Except we both forgot about Blaze. When Trilox attacked Geode, Blaze attacked Trilox. But she misjudged on how much power she used and because of this she sent Trilox speeding out of that battle and into the green beyblade, which seemed to be doing nothing. Rather unintentionally Trilox shoved it out of the beydish.

"Aw man!" Someone muttered. So I was right that it was Zero's 'blade. "Huh? Where's Talon's 'blade?" 

'Too true. Trilox?'

"What? Where is it? Is that it?"

**'She isn't out of it yet. Ah can hear another beyblade but Ah can't see it like the rest o' you.'**

"Talon where is it?"

'Hmm, I wonder…'

"Not tellin'!"

**'What?'**

"Now! Attack now!"

There was a crash when the purple beyblade just materialized and slammed into the red beyblade knocking it out. 

"What?!" Blaze screeched. "No way!"

"Yees!" Talon pumped the air. "Whoo-ho!"

"So, the next match is goin' to be between me, Shadow and Talon." 

"Gee, I wonder who's goin' to get knocked out?" Talon said sarcastically. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**And that's another chapter finished. I really hope the italics and bold worked or else you guys are going to be even more confused! I had so much fun writing that Beybattle! Also, I'm thinking about a new fic that I could be writing up but I'm not sure if I should do it. It's about what could have happened if Tyson at the end of the first series didn't defeat Kai. So should I do it? **

**Anyways, for my reviewers:**

**Dudems; Um, I'm not sure if that was confining but…I has a slightly dilemma because you wanted longer chapters whereas Wingcanine wanted them to stay the same. This chapter ended up longer anyway. **

**Wingcanine; Lol. Try coffee or something. **

**So please review!**

**Dark ice Dragon**


	10. A lil accident

I'm sooo sorry for the long update! But it's because I had the bane of every writer. Writer's block. Well, I seem to be off that now after, heh, how many months? Anyway, I hope I havent kept you waiting too long.

Actually, I hope you can even remember what this fic is about! If you can do just that, I'll be happy.

Oh yeah, I'm going to have to change a few of the symbols because ff.net doesn't seem to accept a few of them anymore.

* * *

Geode sat down heavily panting slightly. I looked down at him feeling my legs shaking slightly. Okay, not slightly, more along the lines that I really wanted to sit down but my legs for some reason wouldn't let me. Finally I was able to ease myself down onto the wooden floor. I was breathing in deep breaths like Geode trying to steady my rapidly beating heart. My arms felt stiff for some reason. It probably had something to do with how hard I had been clenching the ripcord the entire match. The others were still standing, totally silent.

"That…was intense." Someone whispered.

Suddenly Geode laughed, breaking the quiet tranquility.

"Good battle." He said between his laughter.

I fixed my gaze on him not quite sure about him. He had just lost. Shouldn't he be, like, angry or sullen or something? I guess he wasn't like other people. But then again, what would I know? Maybe he liked the thrill of the battle more than the actual winning. I supose that was why I was starting to really like him, he wasn't like the kind people that I was used to. Then again, he wasn't like this the last time we had battled. Of course, I hadn't stayed around long enough to find out what his reaction last time.

I smiled softly at him. "Thanks."

He chuckled. "I'm just glad that you're starting to come out of your shell. No offence or anything, but I've never seen anyone who talked as little as you. It was startin' to freak me out."

Feeling a bit better now that I was sitting down I wondered if I should get Trilox. It had been a couple of seconds since the end but it felt weird not having the familiar weight in my pocket. When he wasn't in my pocket I was used to hearing the spin of the beyblade.

****

'Don't even think about it.'

'Why not?'

'My 'blade is still too hot to touch. There's no point.

I sighed. _'Fine. I'll just wait a bit longer then.'_

"What are you thinkin' about?" Talon asked me.

"What Geode would be like if he had a bitbeast." I said truthfully. It wasn't the full truth but I had been thinking that soon after the beybattle had finished, seeing how close it had been.

"Oh, and what do you think would have happened?" Geode was curious.

Talon muttered, "The end of the world."

"I guess that, looking how strong you are now without one, you could have probably destroyed our 'blades." Blaze said with all seriousness ignoring her.

Geode shook his head. "No way."

"She's prolly right you know." I said thoughtfuly. "Ah mean, look at what this match was like."

He raised his eyebrows. "You won."

"Yeah, but, you should have won. Hear me out first." I said before anyone could interupt. "Look at how I won the match. I won by one extra spin. One. And this is me with Trilox as well. You held your own in there without a bitbeast. I have a hard enough time trying to beat you without one. With one," I shook my head, "I'd probably take a guess but I'd say even if we all took you on at the same time, you'd still win."

When no one agreed or disagreed I glanced at the people around me. They were all staring at me. When I noticed, I felt selfconsious instantly and looked away from them even though I didn't know why they were doing it, I immediately thought it was my fault.

"Shadow, look at me." I did. Geode had a smile on his face for some reason. "Sorry about that but I guess we were all surprised."

I frowned slightly. Surprised about what?

Zero tried a supress a laugh. When he saw me looking at him he said, "You haven't realised have you?"

Now I saw starting to get confused. What were they talking about?

Blaze sighed. "You guys, how about just giving him a straight answer. It's obvious that he doesn't have clue about what you are talking about."

"I'll do it." Talon said, "It's pretty clear that they just want to be cryptic. We were quiet because well, after getting used to you being rather silent most of them time, even in beybattles which is kinda weird, you suddenly do a speech. Plus, we're kinda meek as well, so telling someone to be quiet was outta character for you."

I frowned again. "But I didn't tell anyone to be quiet."

"Yes you did." Zero commented. "When you told us to 'hear you out', that was you telling us to hush up."

"Oh."

Geode was staring at the ceiling, seemly mulling something over. "Hmm, when you said that, it was like you had read my mind. I was about to interupt when you said that."

I felt a half grin spread across my face. _'Like you had read my mind. I wonder if you'll even know that I can do that for real.'_

Blaze noticed the look on my face, "What are you grinin' about?"

"What would you say if I said that was true?" I asked.

"If what was true?"

"That I can read minds." I replied.

Talon snorted. "I would say that you had either gone nuts or you had a very active imagination."

"Also, it's impossible. I know that there are people who call them psychic but I think they're fakes." Zero added.

'Ah, but sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. And I'm proof.'

'Is there any point in tryin' to convince them? They believe what they believe and there's nothing you can do to change their opinion unless you do a demonstration. Are you gonna get me or what? I've been lying here for I don't know how many minutes now and I'm starting to feel bored with no one to talk to. That other beyblade does talk.'

'Hmm, I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it doesn't have a bitbeast?' I thought sarcastically. Sighing, I hoisted myself back onto my now steadier legs and retrieved my beyblade.

"You're not telling me you're telling the truth are you?" Talon demanded.

"Huh?"

She gave me a weird look. "How did you get distracted? All you did was get your beyblade." She shrugged, "I asked if you were telling the truth or not. That you thought you could read minds." She paused. "Huh. What a weird pun."

'But I do. I know that I can. You're the only friends that I've had in so long. But when I…or if I show you what I can do… will you cease to like me? Will you turn your backs on me thinking that I have lost my mind? Or will you pretend that everything is fine and just ignore what had just happened, refusing to believe?'

A growl in my mind. **_'Charlie, you will always have me by your side, no matter what. I won't leave you or desert you. You have my word on that.'_**

I smiled softly. _'I know. But you couldn't leave me anyway. You're a bit beast, the only way you can move is if someone moves your beyblade or if you're launched.'_

Before Trilox could retort with something someone started to wave his or her hand right in my face. "What the?" startled, I took a step back to distance myself from whoever it was. Unfortunately I had been standing in front of the beydish when I did this. Knocking my heel on the table/box that it was resting on I ended up tripping over it completely. I tried to right myself by flailing my arms but that didn't help. I landed with a crash. That's how I ended up staring at the rafters, confused as to why I was looking at them and wondering why my back left like it had been slammed against a wall. I had also hit the floor with the back of my head so it took me a while for me to get my bearings back. That was why I didn't even question why my legs were higher than my head or why everything seemed to focus sharply as the blood rushed to my head or why I was suddenly starting to see white spots.

"Shadow!" I heard someone shout, "Are you okay? I'm sorry! But I wanted to snap you out of whatever you were thinking about. I didn't mean for that to happen!"

Someone's face appeared in my field of vision. He had dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes. He also sported a concerned look from what I could see. "You okay?" he asked me.

I stared at him, momentarily forgetting how to speak. "Y-yeah. A bit bruised but there's nothing broken."

He offered me his hand. Looking sheepishly at him I said, "I would take it but taking a look at where my legs are at the moment it would be awkward for me to do so." Pushing myself up onto my hands, I was soon able to get back onto my feet. Shortly after that, I was nearly knocked off my feet again when Talon ran up to me and started to hug me for the second time in under twelve hours.

"I didn't mean it! It's just that you were staring into space and-"

"Talon, you've said that enough times already. I think Shadow knows that it was an accident." Blaze looking in my direction.

I nodded. "I'm fine. It's a good thing that this didn't happen over the stairs."_'Err, should I have said that?'_ I wondered.

"What?! How can you think like that?!" I winced. She was, afterall, basically shouting directly into my ear.

"H-hey, I was lookin' on the bright side of things. Things could have been worse."

"Exactly! How can say stuff like that, then what you're thinking is that you're really hurt!"

"Uh…"_ '…Help…'_

'It's your fault that she's like this, you know.'

'How? I was saying that things could have been worse.'

'Heh. Still, you're the one who put the images in her head.'

'I don't think I'm ever going to get girls…'

Trilox snorted. **_'You could have saved yourself alotta trouble if you had just done what you normally did. And you'll definitely never get girls because you're a guy; it's the way the world works. Girls don't get guys and guys don't get girls.'_**

'Gee, your words of wisdom are helping me out loads here.'

'Yeah, and if we continue on like this you're going to end up flat on your back again.'

"Heh. I think he blocked out the sound of your voice. That's why he isn't saying anything."

I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah, just make sure that you don't do it again 'kay? Even thought it's effective, it's something which I don't wanna go through again."

Talon nodded. "Okay." We locked our eyes for a moment.

"Aww, how cute! They're gazing lovingly into each others eyes."

We both looked away, a blush on each person's face.

"Talon…" I said softly.

"Yes?"

"Could you please let go of me?"

"What?"

"Jeez Talon. Just how you can forget stuff like this is beyond me." Geode said.

Whirling around, she snapped, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Taking this chance, I edged away from her while her back was turned. I gave Geode a look of gratitude that he acknowledged before he turned his attention to the half-yelling girl in front of him.

Geode, with a grin on his face, walked up towards Talon, patted her on the head and walked off down the stairs.

There was moment of silence.

"Arghhhh!! Come back here!"

* * *

I know, I know. I don't update in ages and when I do, it's a lot smaller than my norm of chapter lengths. Sorry, but I couldn't think of a better place to end it. And well, I think this chapter was completely pointless.

Anyways, to my reviewers:

Dudems: I don't mind. Heck, you reviewed late, how late was this update? And about what you said, I didn't actually notice…

****

Niphredil: I'm glad you liked it! And uh, before you ask, I'm not sure if I'm going to make those two get together.

Hopefully I won't take so long to update but it's not a promice.


	11. This is normal

Well. This was weird.

I don't know how, but Geode had somehow gotten onto the roof of the warehouse; Talon was shouting her head off at him outside. This was bad; I was getting used to this after two days. Two days! If I'm used to this after two days I wonder what I'd be doing tomorrow then? Maybe I'd be helping Geode. Talon? Maybe I should, that way she won't shout at me like she was now.

Blaze was there as well. The both of us were watching from the doors; strange as it may sound, but this was pretty entertaining. Talon was facing us but her focus was on something else. Namely the person sitting over our heads on the roof. I wanted to see what she was seeing but if I stepped closer to her, she might make me go after Geode or something. I think Blaze had the same idea since she wasn't doing anything either.

"Geode! Come down right now!" Talon screamed.

I was thankful to Geode for making Talon stop fussing over me but I personally think that this was worse. I like quiet, not someone shouting in a quiet street. But what I was wondering about, was how he had gotten up there. I had a feeling that the gang had been here for some time, so wouldn't that mean that Talon should know how to get up there as well?

"Why should I? I have a perfect view of the whole street from here." Geode teased.

I didn't have to see his face to know that he was smiling. Which infuriated Talon more than she already was. I stole glances at Blaze beside me. She didn't look like she was going to stop this anytime soon. I wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Arrgh!" Frustrated, Talon could only throw up her hands to the sky. Then she plonked herself down on the ground and sat with her feet under her and arms crossed. "I'm not leaving until you come down." She said childlishly.

We could hear laughing as a reply.

"Well then, you had better prepare to wait for a long time because I'm going to stay here until you stand up first."

**_'What's the challenge in that?'_**

I shrugged. '_Dunno.' _I was interrupted before I could say anything else.

"You don't get it?" Blaze asked.

I looked at her, puzzled. How did she know?

"I knew because you looked confused." She explained. I waited for her to continue. "You think this is going to be easy because all they have to do is sit. That isn't all. The rules are that the position of what you started odd sitting in is what you stay sitting in. I have a feeling that Geode is sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the warehouse. Which means he's going to win. Before you ask how I know, it's because Talon is sitting on her feet. Her weight is all on her feet so there is no blood going to her feet which means she's going to get pins and needles…Or is that after she stands up? The point is, Talon is going to lose."

Already we could see Talon fidget. She was rocking from side to side and her feet were moving a little forwards and a little bit back every so often. As the seconds ticked by, Talon was showing more and more discomfort.

Geode called, "Why don't you stop this now? It's clear whose going to win."

"Yeah?" she retorted. "You're actually saying that you're going to give up?"

"Nope."

Talon was still glaring at the person who we couldn't see. Why did I have a feeling that Geode wasn't doing the same? Maybe it had something to do with the light laughter. Seeing as Talon couldn't move and her entire focus was on Geode, I edged forward. When I was standing beside her, I followed to where she was glaring. Blaze was right. He was sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the warehouse, a wide grin plastered over his face.

"This is-" Talon began saying.

Geode finished for her, "-Stupid. You say that every time."  
"Well it's true." She huffed. Without another word she stood up. Then she started to hop from one foot to another. Looked like the pins and needles had set in quickly. Blaze had a bemused look on her face as she watched. After a while, Talon stopped and then began glaring at Geode again. "Are you coming down or what?"

Still smiling, Geode replied, "Only until you're safe inside the warehouse."

Glaring at him for a minute, she stomped back into the warehouse and past Blaze, who followed her. Seeing everything so far, I could hazard a guess that this either happened often, or this just happened a lot.

Seeing Talon go inside, I looked up again to see Geode shaking his head. "Sorry Shadow, but you've go to go as well. It's a secret that I don't want Talon to know. Not that I don't trust you or anything, but if she finds out that you know, she'll find a way to get it out of you. Believe me, she will."

Shrugging, I said, "Okay." I then walked inside.

**'_So you don't wanna know then?_'** Trilox asked.

I shook my head. _'Nah. And he's prolly right, if Talon knew Ah have no idea what she'd do but Ah don't wanna find out!'_

I couldn't see anyone in the room. Unless of course they were hiding behind the staircase. But what would be the point in that?

'Hmmm. Well Ah can't force ya to, but Ah'm guessin' that the way he gets up there is something from the outside.'

_'Oh?' _I mused. _'How did you get that idea?'_

I started to walk up the stairs.

'Because, he ran as soon as he ruffled Talon's hair and she was right behind him. We heard them goin' down the stairs so gettin' up there through the window is out. Still, Geode had a head start so that could have given him enough time to climb on whatever it is and sit at the front.' Trilox explained.

_'You have a point, but if he had been rushin' wouldn't there have been bangin' and crashin'?' _I wondered.

Blaze and Talon were sitting in one of the corners, talking. Talon had her back in the corner and I could just about see her face; Blaze had her back to me. They had their heads bowed and muttering in low voices. Were they planning something?

**_'Ah s'pose. Maybe he's got powers and levitated to roof…' _**Trilox said slowly.

I smiled. _'If he did, Ah'd be happy that Ah'm not the only person with powers. Though it would be pretty freaky that one of the first people who Ah meet happens to also have powers. But if he's older than me, he could have escaped before I arrived.'_

**_'Do you really think so?' _**he asked quietly.

'No. Doctor said that every single one before me died. Should Ah have stayed there? He could have already gotten someone else and given him or her the serum! Trilox, we've got t' go back! I don't want anyone else to go what we've gone through!'

"Charlie?" I heard someone say. Startled at hearing something coming from my ears and not my head, I began to take a step. Unfortunatly, I was on top the stairs. Fortunatly, someone grabbed my hands before I took the dive.

Trilox commented, 'Jeez. You've got to stop doing that.'

_'It's _because_ Ah'm talkin' to you that this happens.'_

It was Talon. "Are you okay?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah." I said shakily. Even though I had taken a step onto empty air for a few seconds, my heart was still beating at double the normal speed. I glanced behind me to see how far I would have fallen and instead, saw Geode standing halfway down.

Talon hadn't seen him yet. "You've got to stop doing that." Even though her tone was light, I could tell that she was feeling guilty. Everytime I had been hurt (that she knew about) or nearly been hurt, it was because of her. She didn't know it was because of who and what I was that it kept on happening. She was just the extra factor that that I wasn't used to.

In 'The Haunted Mansion' I was practically always ignored so I didn't have any practice of hearing with both my mind and ears at the same time. I was able to walk and do other easy things at the same time as talking to Trilox but since no one else even attempted to try and talk to me I didn't consider that it could happen. Not to mention the havoc it would cause my head when someone was talking to me at the same time Trilox was. The people who I talked to knew that I was psychic. So they didn't mind –as much- when I said something completely different from what they were saying as they assumed that when it happened I must have been talking to Trilox at the same time. Which I was. There was no one else who talked to me freely anyway.

But with Talon, she always seemed to echo something that Trilox had said or what someone else said to me. She could have said more than I realised but I wouldn't know with my memory.

When I didn't answer, Geode asked, "So what happened?"

Not knowing that he was there, Talon nearly let go of my hand reminding me of my predicament. How I forgot I don't know how but I guess it was because of my reminiscing.

'So. Are you two going to hang there or are we going to have to wait until you get too heavy for her arms?'

I moved my left hand to grab hold of the banister and gently put my foot down on the step below.

"Um. I shocked Shadow again and he nearly fell down the stairs." She explained.

I felt a little bad because I was the reason she was feeling guilty. "But I didn't. So you don't have to worry."

Her planning forgotten, she walked past Geode and me and out the open door.

I wanted to follow her. I really did. But if I caught up with her, I wouldn't know what to do or say. Was she feeling guiltier than I thought? She didn't shout at Geode, or say a word or that matter. This was all my fault. I'm the reason she feels guily, why she feels sorry for me. Why don't I just go?

**_'Don't be stupid.' _**Trilox snorted. **_'Where would you go?'_**

'Anywhere away from Talon. It's because of me she's like this right now.'****

**_'Like I said, where would we go? Yes, we. Don't leave me out of this. You can't balme yourself that this keeps on happening. You can't do anything to stop it. Unless you stop talking you me.' _**He challenged.

'You're my best friend, you know Ah wouldn't do that. ' **'I know. The only thing you **can **do is get used to it Ah s'pose.'**

Before I could reply, Geode had interpreted my feelings form my face and started to talk to me. "There's no point." He stated. "You don't know her very well so you don't know where she's went, and plus, you're new here so you even if you did, would you know where to go?"

I slumped my shoulders and hung my head. He was right. There was nothing I could do. I was reminded how little I knew about the people around me. To me, they felt closer than family but did they feel the same about me? Or do they still consider me an outsider?

"Don't worry. She'll be fine." Blaze reassured. "She'll be back in a few hours and back to her normal self. This happens every once in a while and she always does this. I don't know what she does or where she goes so you can't ask me. It's better that she has some privacy, you know?"

If I tried, I probably would be able to find her easier than Geode or Blaze. All I would have to do it open my mind and listen out for her thoughts. But there was also the thing about hearing every other person as well. I would hear so many thoughts that I wouldn't be able to hear anything specific, just loud –extremely loud- noise that I couldn't understand.

But Blaze was right. Talon has a right to her privacy. I think everyone has a right to his or her privacy. That's why I never listened in to other people's thoughts unless: I really had to; I was forced to; or in the rare occasion it just happened. If someone doesn't want to tell you, it's their choice. If they trust you enough to tell you that's good, but if you find out in a way that breaches their privacy and they find out…

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah."

As I kept my head down, I didn't notice the knowing look and smiles that passed between Geode and Blaze.

"Well there's nothing else to do but wait. What do you want to do? Beybattle?" Geode asked.

Blaze and I groaned in unision.

* * *

Sorry for the wait! I kinda lost intrest in this and as soon as I put it in the On Hold bit in my bio I started working on this. Also, I'm sorry for the change in the past and present tenses, but I don't know how to change to past tense. I don't even know why I can't change it. Maybe it's because of my lack of sleep…Ah well.

Dark Ice Dragon


End file.
